Hourly & Salary???

[guid0]

I live in TN
I am working for a CLEC...
I work roughly 55-60 hours per week (whereas he is paying 1.5 pay)
I am owed $250-$300 from two weeks ago that was suppossed to be delivered at the end of January. I have asked about this pay several times, each time been told that I would be paid soon. Now we are nearing 2 weeks without that pay.
I have also been cut nearly $250-$300 a month back on pay for the same work I was doing (which I assume is NOT illegal). However, the means of this pay has been that my boss has me work HOURLY during the weekdays (as I am fulltime) and changes me to SALARY during the weekends/weeknights (as I am on 24/7 call). Now, this change in employment status is not being reported that way to the IRS, it's being calculated hourly and reported that way. I was also FORCED to sign a non-compete before they would allow me to work and get paid. Isn't that constructive force?
My questions are:
- Is the employment status legal? Can someone honestly set you to work nonstop one weekend and only make $10 salary for that day?
- What should I do about the money I am owed? I am still waiting to be paid. I am also curious to see if he will pay me on the NEXT payday...
- Should I persue this issue while employeed? Should I move on with my career and then obtain a lawyer to research my case and give me my options AFTER leaving the company.

I can tell you that I have been threatened several times with termination, merely a scare tactic..but I don't know what they are trying to keep me from doing...Literally, working were I am at is working under harrassment. My boss has even called me a "Male SH*T" in front of employees out of spite (he is male too). I am not disgruntled, merely curious what kind of consequences he faces for his actions.
As for the salary wage/hourly wage issue, regardless of him reporting the pay as hourly to the IRS, I have on file the schedule and the pay due for those days worked.

Please advise...I am nearly ready to leave the company.
guid0

 

[Beth3]

The IRS has nothing to do with this. Employers aren't obligated to report to the IRS whether someone is being paid on an hourly or a salaried basis.

Not knowing anything about your job duties or even what a CLEC is, I can't tell whether your job must be paid on an hourly basis or qualifies for exempt status. What is obvious is that there's something goofy about your employer's pay practices. Switching someone back and forth from non-exempt to exempt is just not lawful. I suggest you contact TN's Department of Labor and discuss your situation with them.

I can tell you that I have been threatened several times with termination, merely a scare tactic..but I don't know what they are trying to keep me from doing...Literally, working were I am at is working under harrassment. My boss has even called me a "Male SH*T" in front of employees out of spite (he is male too). The boss being a jerk is not prohibited harassment.

I was also FORCED to sign a non-compete before they would allow me to work and get paid. Isn't that constructive force? I presume they didn't hold a gun to your head. If a condition of employment was that you sign a non-compete, that is lawful. Whether the non-compete is valid is another matter.

Call TN's DOL on the wage and hour issues. If they can't help you, then contact the federal Department of Labor.

 

[SuzieWahoozie]

Although I agree with Beth that you should call the TN DOL and tell them the whole story to see if you are entitled to payment for anything, I do see one potential error in your reasoning, so let me expound and you can correct me if I am misunderstanding.

You work a normal schedule during the week for which you are paid hourly and for any OT. No problem there.

Sometimes on the weekends you are to be on call 24/7, and you feel you should be paid for that time, but you only receive a flat $10 per day for that time. That seems to me to be perfectly legal unless you are actually called in to work. If you don't ever get a call, even though you are "on call," they don't have to pay you anything. With that said, I will tell you that that applies ONLY if you are relatively free to live a normal life on the weekends you are on call. In other words, if you can still go to a restaurant, run errands, see a movie, etc. on the weekends you are on call, they don't have to pay you anything. Even the $10 doesn't have to be paid...that's just a nice gesture they give you. They only have to pay you if you actually go in to work and perform your regular duties. And if you do go in and that puts you over 40 hours for the work week, they have to pay you OT.

So...which is it? Are you allowed to live a relatively normal life and just carry a beeper/cellphone for emergencies, or are you severely restricted in what you can and cannot do while on call? And..."severely restricted" doesn't mean, "I can't go to Disney," or "I have to respond to calls within 30 minutes." "Severely restricted" means you either must be on the employer's premises, even if you are doing nothing but watching paint dry the whole time OR you are not allowed to leave a certain place in order to be available to take calls.

 

[guid0]

No...I can theoretically leave the house IF I was not on the phone non-stop. I regularly work 5-10 hours a weekend day and never get to clock in...that kind of meets the middle of the issue here. I have asked why I cannot clock in...it was explained that the pay I received on weekends that I didn't have any calls (rare) was to cover the trouble I go through on the busy weekends...
pretty sloppy in my opinion.

 

[Beth3]

Call TN's DOL.