Can a staffing agency not offer overtime pay?

There's a staffing company that found a candidate. They are offering him a contract position with an hourly pay rate but, any overtime he does will not be time and a half, it will be his regular hourly pay rate. Isn't that against labor laws?

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

audio

Fact Sheet - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of Labor

No idea what kind of job your friend is being offered but give that a read and see if he is overtime exempt.

thomas_

Yes, it is against labor laws:

Overtime | United States Department of Labor

The staffing company is violating labor laws if they are doing that unless the candidate is exempt. Although there are computer related exemptions the vast majority of computer related jobs are non-exempt and should be paid time and a half for any hours worked over 40 hours in a work week.

EnderWiggin

I've heard of companies saying no overtime, meaning once you hit your forty for the week, you're done, see ya next week. But never paying someone straight time for over forty.........

TechGromit

When I worked for the FAA as a contractor, any overtime pay was paid straight time, no time and half.

danny069

Usually, anything over 40 hours a week (hourly) should be time and a half, anything over 80 should be double. If you sign a contract saying you will work for straight time after 40 hours in one week, you are only screwing yourself over and the company makes out like a bandit.

devilbones

It depends on the position. I was a non-exempt employee and when I received a promotion years ago it fell under the exempt category. I no longer make time and a half over 40 but straight time overtime.

TechGuru80

I would read up on labor laws and seek legal guidance...prior to making accusations or anything to the agency itself.

greg9891

Sounds Illegal ! hourly wage should have overtime, unless its non hourly wage like a management position or something.

TechGromit

devilbones wrote: »

It depends on the position. I was a non-exempt employee and when I received a promotion years ago it fell under the exempt category. I no longer make time and a half over 40 but straight time overtime.

If your paid a salary, say 60k a year, they break your pay into an hourly rate of $28.45, so if you work overtime, they can pay you at a rate of straight time for overtime. In theory since your salary, you should earn the same amount if you work less than 40 hours a week, but it rarely works out that way. Just be thankful your getting overtime pay, often since your salary, your expected to work overtime for free.

For me, I only get overtime during power plant outages, but I have to donate the first 5 hours before I get any straight time overtime.

Fayz

TechGromit wrote: »

If your paid a salary, say 60k a year, they break your pay into an hourly rate of $28.45, so if you work overtime, they can pay you at a rate of straight time for overtime. In theory since your salary, you should earn the same amount if you work less than 40 hours a week, but it rarely works out that way. Just be thankful your getting overtime pay, often since your salary, your expected to work overtime for free.

For me, I only get overtime during power plant outages, but I have to donate the first 5 hours before I get any straight time overtime.

Thing is they only informed him of an hourly pay rate not a yearly salary which is odd. Is there such a thing as getting a hourly salary rate then?

devilbones

TechGromit wrote: »

If your paid a salary, say 60k a year, they break your pay into an hourly rate of $28.45, so if you work overtime, they can pay you at a rate of straight time for overtime. In theory since your salary, you should earn the same amount if you work less than 40 hours a week, but it rarely works out that way. Just be thankful your getting overtime pay, often since your salary, your expected to work overtime for free.

For me, I only get overtime during power plant outages, but I have to donate the first 5 hours before I get any straight time overtime.

Yeah I understand this. I have been working 84 hours weeks for the past several months. I used to get 1.5x and 2x overtime and now its just straight.

UncleB

At least you get overtime!

As a manager my contracts in the last few companies have stipulated I need to work as many hours as are needed for my basic salary - including weekends.

I'm the kind of manager that spends as much time as I can alongside my team, on the phone for 1st line support calls, fixing 2nd line issues or helping with server upgrades - whatever helps get the best from my staff and where I can keep my finger on the pulse of the daily flow of work.

This inevitably means a lot of management stuff (reports, project plans, analysis of trends etc) needs to be performed in my own time, but that is something I accept as a consequence of being a hands on manager. It works very well when helping support teams get back to being effective (my area of specialisation) and develop the staff who are not pulling their weight (or if they can't be improved, help them move on to something they are better suited for).

Just saying that overtime comes in a range of options, from zero to a multiple, so it is all about how the company you work for has their remuneration package setup. If you don't like it, go elsewhere and tell the company why you left - if they don't realise it is an issue they will think all is good.

thanks
Iain

NOC-Ninja

That is illegal. I would talk to free attorney for legal advice. I know there are free lawyer consultation.

TheFORCE

This isn't necessarily illegal. A lot of companies will tell you that "yes, you can do OT" but then you cannot decide on the OT yourself. It has to be approved and it has to be justified.

On my previous job i was getting 1.5 pay for every hour of 40 but my bosses knew about it and it was approved. At another job i was paid hourly but never did OT because the bosses never approved any. They would tell you go home at 5 and do not stay to do OT.

So yes, when a company tells you no OT, they do not mean they will not pay you OT if there is a circumstance that requires OT, what they mean is that "we do not want you to take it upon yourself and decide that you can do OT whenever you feel like it." Those are two totally different things.