Posted: 3/21/2005 2:38:23 PM EDT
If you are on salary, can your boss make you work endless days without a day off? This question pertains to South Carolina labor laws.  Any input greatly appreciated!   
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SC labor laws are trumped by the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), the federal law which sets wage and hour standards. Unless it's changed in the last year (and while there have been changes in the Act, I don't believe they addressed these basics), the Act provides that salaried employees must be given compensatory time of at the rate of 1.5 hours off for each hour over 40 worked in a week, or must be compensated for time over 40 hours per week at 1.5 * ($weekly salary/40). Many managers, particularly in low-skill businesses, fraudulently or ignorantly make wage-earners salaried employees and tell the employees that they are not entitled to OT pay, and are only entitled to comp time off when it is convenient for (or "not harmful to") the business. They are lying cocksuckers, and they can be forced to disgorge big money. The statute of limitation is 2 yrs, IIRC. That means they are liable for damages going back 2 years before the date of filing, which should be about a week after you;re fired or quit. Damages are either 2 times the wages owed plus attorney fees. The case may be brought is State or federal court. Keep records of your hours worked. For details, see: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode29/usc_sup_01_29_10_8.html There are further refinements in the Code of Federal Regulations. The answer to your question, however, is "No." |
probably not, because it would take 2 competent men 40 hrs./hourly a week to accomplish them. MAny hourly wage jobs turn salary to undercut overtime. -HS eta: FLA may be right...they call it comp time, I believe. |
Not every job can lawfully be designated salaried. |
That is a loaded question; when you are doing the work of three men, it is impossible to accomplish everything that needs to be done in the course of a 16 hour work day, and I don't care how good you think you are. I manage a busy repair shop and I am lucky to get one day off a month. The money is good, but the work is exhausting, both mentally and physically. We are open seven days a week and we are perpetually understaffed at the front counter and in the shop. Just as it is difficult to find qualified technicians, it is equally difficult to find competent sales staff to work the front counter. The salaried store manager is expected to take up the slack when the store is short-handed, which is always. There was a thread earlier about someone asking if becoming a car mechanic was a wise career choice and, as always, there were many opinions and a plethora of advice. I said it then, and I'll say it now: there is a shortage of competent mechanics in this country, so the field is lucrative to those who have the stamina and committment to pursue it. I know some will read this and say "if you don't like it, quit." Well, I don't intend to quit, but I am interested in knowing if there are any legal restrictions to making some one work for weeks at a time without time off. This is not a rant; just an exhausted manager asking for some advice. Thanks for the link, FLAL1A.  |
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The answer is, generally, yes. That is the difference between salary and hourly wages, generally. Overtime is theoretically built into your salary. Whether 16 hour days, 6 days a week, can fall into that argument, is another question. Of course, if you are a Federal employee, you have to get comp time of some sort, whether time off or in cash. |
Here's their loop hole
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FLAL1A is close to the mark. Federally IF your employment agreement says that you are salaried at 40 hours per week then your employer must compensate you at your the overtime rate (1.5) or your effective hourly rate (your weekly rate divided by 40) for every hour you work over 40. You do have the SC Department of Labor required LS-26, right? If your position is legtimately managerial (and no more than 15% of your time is spent doing tasks performed by hourly employees that you supervise) AND your employment agreement does not refer to a set number of hours, per week, then the above does not apply. First, you need to speak to the SC Department of Labor and then to the US DOL Wage and Hour Division. George Blaine in the Charlotte office is a good point of contact. |
I also read this in the code of laws, but I only service vehicles for the public. Unless I am not reading this correctly, this would seem to apply to those selling vehicles that they service: "... primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, if he is employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling such vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers..." I do not sell vehicles; I only fix 'em.
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