Wage/overtime rules

AFAIK, if you are an exempt employee, (salaried) you do not get paid OT.
Even if you have to come in during the weekends.

And no, you do not get paid as if it was a normal day either. To make it simple, you do not get paid.

I do not know about challenging it, but if you signed a contract and in the contract it was stated that you agree to be on call yadee yadee yada, then you are up a certain creek without a paddle.
But im not a lawyer, im sure others will be more aware of these things.

My understanding is, you don't have to be paid equivalent to anyone, unless you're in a union and have collective bargaining that makes that happen.

If you're classified as "management" that whole hourly thing goes away anyway, as does OT, potentially. Is that what you mean by "exempt vs non-exempt?"

I don't think there's enough info in your post to help anyone give you really good advice, but I understand why you might not want to bare your situation to a public message board...

1. Not sure about this one, but I doubt it.

2. I'm pretty sure exempt from OT means you get straight pay, no matter your hours. When I had a FT, non-exempt position, I got OT pay for hours over what that company specified as FT (37.5 hours per week) IF my crazy boss would sign off on it.

The exempt positions where I was (very large company that employees 10K+ people in NYC) had better overall pay, but more responsibility and didn't get OT no matter their hours.

3. Pros of exempt are that you don't have any pressure to work OT for extra money. It is an incentive to work smarter and faster if you happen to be somewhere that you can either leave a little early in the day or at least spend time goofing off or where you can take on personal projects in that extra time.

Pros of non-exempt are that if you need extra $$ and there's more hours to be had, you can get it.

Your hire contract should have your status in it, but I've never worked anywhere that you could change your status. Businesses are often set up with certain numbers of specific types of positions and making changes to the system is not easy. Their reaction to you asking for a change depends on all kinds of factors: their need of your skills, your performance record, their current stability, how your boss feels about you, etc. You might just be more likely to get a raise or increased benefits (more PTO).

vidro3 wrote: Re #1, let's say I've been a widget inspector for 5 years and then the company hires a new widget inspector, with no prior experience, at a higher salary. Isn't there something wrong with that? Feels like there should be.

Ethically...yes. It sucks.

But that's life. If you feel you have a firm grip in the company and want to push that particular issue, then go for it.

Also, was this new inspector a FT salaried hire? Or is he contract or hourly. When he is contract, he probably isnt getting your companies benefits and 401, which would make it seem like hes getting paid more.

Although if he is getting paid more in general...again, that sucks.

There is something wrong with someone being hired at more than your salary with no experience, but nothing legally wrong. Just sounds like it is time for you to ask for a raise.

If you are exempt, your boss doesn't need to pay you anything for working extra hours. I've never heard of anyone getting OT who is exempt. Yes, legally your boss could pay an exempt employee some money for working more hours if he wanted to be super nice, but he isn't required to and it would be abnormal.

From some light googling (http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html)
[quote= 1) you're an executive/supervisor, 2) you're a professional (doctor, lawyer, nurse, architect, pharmacist, etc.); or 3) administrative (non manual work, related to operations/business, and you make decisions about important stuff.

At any rate, from the sounds of things - you're probably non-exempt (you'd probably not have mentioned "straight time" otherwise). So your boss should pay you time and a half. And ask for that raise!

Every company I've worked for has hired me higher than current employees and usually with less experience. I don't think its unethical at all- companies will pay you one cent more per year than it takes you to quit. I say I want XXX and if they dont give it, I dont take the job. Don't be upset that someone else was ballsy enough to negotiate.

I am definitely higher than most of my co-workers.

The employer frequently takes the perspective "why would I pay him more, when he presently working for less?"

...the burden falls on the employee to keep their salary competitive, not the employer.

The employee has the option of leaving if they find the salary unsatisfactory.

vidro3 wrote: [quote=whynot_31]The employer frequently takes the perspective "why would I pay him more, when he presently working for less?"

...the burden falls on the employee to keep their salary competitive, not the employer.

The employee has the option of leaving if they find the salary unsatisfactory.

well yea, obviously they are not going to raise everyone's salary automatically if a new hire negotiates for more.

i guess it just shows that the company is somewhat inept if they want to pay someone with no experience in this position and less education more money than an existing employee. I'll get a new job and then they will have highly paid people who don't know what to do.

But thats not necessarily the case- I mean, the workforce is FLOODED with overqualified applicants for virtually every position- maybe the new hire is exceptionally smart? Maybe he or she possesses skills the company is looking for for a future position/management/etc? there are so many aspects of corporate politics that could be going into play- it's not necessarily that the hiring manager is an incompetent asshole. Lots of unexperienced people are very, very smart and could easily learn the job of 5 years of experience in a month..

I can't speak to your specific instance...but if you really fail to have any confidence in the upper management of the company, why do you work there?

If you think you should be getting paid more, ask for more. If they won't give you more, go somewhere else where they will. If there isn't another place that will give you more, maybe you're not worth more.