Overtime Laws in Texas

[JennDiane7]

Texas - I work as a counselor at a residential treatment center for teenagers. Recently my boss required all employees who are counselors to the youth to attend a staff retreat (15 hours long). He informed us that he is not required to pay us overtime for the retreat because we are not doing our normal job of watching the kids. I can not believe that this is legal. Can anyone tell me if my boss is right?

 

[Beth3]

Whether you must be paid any overtime depends upon how your job is classified under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA.)

There are no circumstances under which exempt employees must be paid OT. Non-exempt employees must be paid time and a-half for all hours worked over 40 in each 7-day payroll period.

Do you know whether you are in an exempt or non-exempt position? If you are unsure, please post back and tell us what kind of credentials are REQUIRED to do your job (B.E.? Master's Degree? teaching credentials? and briefly what your job entails.)

 

[JennDiane7]

I am non-exempt. I do normally get paid overtime when I am doing my normal job. But my boss says that he is not required to pay me overtime because I am not doing my normal job, instead I am doing training.

 

[Beth3]

Your boss is wrong. Federal law requires the employer to pay time and a half for all hours worked over 40 in each 7-day pay period to non-exempt ee's. Compensible time includes all time worked for which the employer derives a benefit or which the employer "suffers" the employee to work.

Let's assume that your supervisor is ignorant of the legal requirements for overtime rather than purposefully trying to rip anyone off.

Go to www.dol.gov, where you can find a copy of the Fair Labor Standards Act in it's entirety. Print it out and give it to your supervisor (nicely!) and tell him that you believe he is mistaken about overtime pay requirements and that you're giving this to him so he can review the federal law and correct things before a violation occurs.

I don't know what TX wage and hour reg's require but they do not override federal law - an empoyer is required to comply with both if both the state and the fed's have applicable regulations on the same issue.

 

[cbg]

Your boss is wrong.

Sorry, hit submit too fast.

Texas has no overtime provisions that would even remotely suggest such a thing, and it would be a violation of Federal law if it did. The law in question is the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the agency that oversees it is the Department of Labor. In this case, the US DOL rather than the TX DOL.