Laws concerning overtime

J

Joshua312

New member
Last week I workeds 81 1/4 hours for the business I work for (very small)...2 owners and me and my mom are the only full-time constant workers, everyone else we hire as we need them (catering business/banquet center)



Anyways..Long story short, I got paid these hours...but no over-time...when I brought it up with the owner the first time he said the people who he seen working hard will benefit at the end of the week when they open their envelope...he told me I was going to get paid extra, and I go to open it up and it is the exact amount - Is there any law to paying overtime with these hours?
 
Yes and no.



Check your state and local labor laws. It mostly depends on what type of employee you are...hourly or salary, and if you are exempt from overtime. If that was the case, I wouldn't work any.......
 
This varies from state to state, and I'm not sure about Michigan. Try searching the Michigan department of labor's site, or even give them a call.



For example, in NY, your employer does have to pay you for overtime, but only has to pay at your regular rate. Those that earn time and a half or double time, earn it thanks to their contract with their employer.



Ohio is a "Right To Work" state, which I interpret as there being little protection for the employee. I've only been salaried here, so I don't know how things work out if you're paid hourly.
 
tanha said:
This varies from state to state, and I'm not sure about Michigan. Try searching the Michigan department of labor's site, or even give them a call.



For example, in NY, your employer does have to pay you for overtime, but only has to pay at your regular rate. Those that earn time and a half or double time, earn it thanks to their contract with their employer.



Ohio is a "Right To Work" state, which I interpret as there being little protection for the employee. I've only been salaried here, so I don't know how things work out if you're paid hourly.
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New York HAS to pay overtime to any hourly employee making LESS than 6.5 times current minimum wage.
 
In IL it depends how many people is employed at the company, if less than 50 (or something like that) most of the lows don’t apply. Also it depends of the ownership, most likely if it’s lass than 50, company is privately owned. Often small places have regulations (hand book or such) that you sigh at the time when you become employ and you are cover by the rules specified.
 
All laws are different for a company with less than a certain number of employees. Went through a nasty resignation/pregnancy issue thing with one of my wife's jobs and the guy was pretty much protected because he employed so few people. One of the pitfalls of working for a small business.
 
Tasty said:
All laws are different for a company with less than a certain number of employees.
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Um...all laws are different...if you look at the DOL site that I linked, the threshold for FLSA I think was 2 employees (effectively saying unless you work by yourself, the overtime laws apply). OSHA doesn't care how many employees you have. There are many federal regulations for government contracting which exempts companies under 500 or 50 or 25 from various provisions.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Um...all laws are different...if you look at the DOL site that I linked, the threshold for FLSA I think was 2 employees (effectively saying unless you work by yourself, the overtime laws apply). OSHA doesn't care how many employees you have. There are many federal regulations for government contracting which exempts companies under 500 or 50 or 25 from various provisions.
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That's correct. Federal laws are the minimum standard for which a business must uphold. States can go above and beyond, but they can't do less than what the Federal Law states.
 
Joshua312 said:
I dont know if this helps any, but I was paid in cash also for this occassion
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This shouldn't matter one way or the other assuming it's not an under the table payment and all of your tax requirements are met.
 
Joshua312 said:
I dont know if this helps any, but I was paid in cash also for this occassion
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It helps tremendously, especially if taxes weren't taken out. If NO taxes were taken out then you have no argument and that was your bonus for working overtime because receiving cash saved you like 30% in taxes that would otherwise have been taken out.



Cash is king!
 
Just an update..Today we sat down with the other owner (the brother to who promised us this bonus) and he was outraged because he had no idea...We later found out that his brother told 2 employees they would be paid $10 an hour and recieved only $8/hour...Needless to say I have a 13 hour day again tomorrow, so Im sure I will see extra cash at the end of the day. It's sad to think of how poorly some people run their business and cheat out employees.
 
I don't understand what you are saying, that they meant to pay you extra but they didn't? Or that one promised and didn't tell the other one, who was in charge of the payroll, and so now you will get the bonus? Or that the "other" owner shot down what the first one had promised you?
 
There are two people who run the business, they are brothers. One of them sat down with me and my mom last week and told us we would be rewarded for our hard work and extra hours put in when we seen our payment at the end of this week, the other brother who is in charge of payroll was never informed of this promise, which is why we were not paid extra. When we brought it to his attention he was outraged that his brother made all these promises to people without informing him, especially since people are going to him with the anger. Needless to say, today when we sat down with him he assured us he was going to rip his brother a new one...an we will be paid tomorrow our extra cash...Me and my mom laid it out plain and simple to him - they have a lot of people pissed off at them right now who really dont feel like it is worth it for them to go in to work tomorrow...but...we will all show up just like we always do. Sorry I may have made it a bit confusing between the brothers and who was saying what. While I cant argue getting paid cash was a bonus in itself for all those hours and what I make hourly...However when the owner sits you down and clearly says, when you see your pay at the end of this week you are going to get extra, then we are expecting that money...and when he promises it to 2 other employees who dont regularly work for us, then he really needs to follow through on this promise of his. I have 13 hours of work tomorrow at an off-site wedding so Im sure it is going to be awkward between me/mom and the brother who promised to pay us extra but didnt haha :)
 
So are you what the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) considers a tippable employee, and therefore not subject to the minimum wage laws? I found it interesting (and news to me) that tippable employees, while only having a minimum wage of $2.13/hr, are not exempt from overtime laws. Are you always paid in cash? Or was this just a special occassion?
 
Josh,



I don't know that you have answered the questions to some of the scenarios that have been posed here or not. If you haven't signed a piece of paper declaring that you are an independent contractor you are indeed and employee of this company. If that is the case and you are being paid cash (I'm making an assumption here) it's probably under the table. This means that your employer isn't paying your Federal Income Tax or Social Security. This may seem like a good thing but imagine this. That at the end of the year your employer does his taxes and claims to have paid X amount and you do the same. For what ever reason you or he are audited by the IRS and the numbers don't match. This would be what you describe as an awkward situation. The IRS comes after you as if you are an independent contractor who is responsible for paying his own taxes and you have to come up with 20-30% of the wage he may have declared. I've seen this happen and it was nasty.



I could be up in the night on a matter like this because I don't know about the foood and catering industry and what they are entitled to do with respect to tips and minimum wage. Should this not be the case, I would tell you it's time to look for another means of employment particularly when you have two bosses that don't know what each other are doing and don't even seem to cover the other for what could have been a simple mistake. Businesses that don't pay by means of a regular payroll check with all of the line items listed are usually trying to put something over on someone.
 
Joshua312 said:
There are two people who run the business, they are brothers. One of them sat down with me and my mom last week and told us we would be rewarded for our hard work and extra hours put in when we seen our payment at the end of this week, the other brother who is in charge of payroll was never informed of this promise, which is why we were not paid extra. When we brought it to his attention he was outraged that his brother made all these promises to people without informing him, especially since people are going to him with the anger. Needless to say, today when we sat down with him he assured us he was going to rip his brother a new one...an we will be paid tomorrow our extra cash...Me and my mom laid it out plain and simple to him - they have a lot of people pissed off at them right now who really dont feel like it is worth it for them to go in to work tomorrow...but...we will all show up just like we always do. Sorry I may have made it a bit confusing between the brothers and who was saying what. While I cant argue getting paid cash was a bonus in itself for all those hours and what I make hourly...However when the owner sits you down and clearly says, when you see your pay at the end of this week you are going to get extra, then we are expecting that money...and when he promises it to 2 other employees who dont regularly work for us, then he really needs to follow through on this promise of his. I have 13 hours of work tomorrow at an off-site wedding so Im sure it is going to be awkward between me/mom and the brother who promised to pay us extra but didnt haha :)
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But he didnt say HOW you would be rewarded. You have nothing to base your case on. If the brother said, "I will give you $2 extra dollars per hour for every hour this week if you work more than 60 hours." Define REWARD? You can not, and the brother can deny it until he dies, you dont have it in writing. Maybe the payment at the end of the week is walking papers? No clear definition, no money!



I'd say go find other people to work for. Sounds like a weak low-end replica of the "good cop, bad cop" management theory.
 
I do recieve a check weekly, this was just a special occassion because of the hours worked (festival in West Michigan known as Tulip Time). And I guess I dont need to worry about the FLSA minimum wage laws, I make $10.20/hour with this business. I did not sign a paper or anything when I began working. I basically do anything they need done...I work at a cafe in our local library during the week for them, on some weekends we work on off-site catering events, or weddings at the banquet center where I either bartend (wage + tips). GearHead, I definately know what your talking about with cash vs. check benefits. I currently have a car loan and credit card, and would be impossible if I only got paid cash...:) So I am thankful I am also given a check every week so I can build credit.



-Ive had my fair share of employers who thought it was better to pay cash...I worked at a sports bar for 2 years, started bartending at 17, got paid cash under the table plus tips. I was easily making $400/week for 15 hours...it was insane, but low and behold guess who shows up - the IRS haha :) None of the employees got in trouble because the owners hadnt been paying their taxes or returning phone calls to bills that were not paid. Some people just do not know how to run a business, it really is scary.



-- The brother did say we would be given extra cash in our envelope -- Sorry for the confusion -- It is frustrating when you constantly have these issues arising, but with flexible hours, a paycheck every week, easy going environment...I cant afford to just leave this job, especially with the economy in Michigan - - I'm sure tomorrow when I get done working I'll see an extra $100 for my paycheck, I recieved a phone call and the brother said everything was taken care of
 
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