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leolady37 · Nov 25, 2009, 01:54 PM

My husband works for a company that pays all employees salary. There are a lot of times that he works 50+ hrs a week as well as travelling for several days w/ no extra compensation. He is on-call 24-7 and is expected to be in office 'butt in seat' m-f 8-5 regardless of off hour activities. If he is not in office, he is doc'd vacation time, such as if he is late due to dr appointment they doc him 1/2 day vacation. And it doesn't matter if he ends up working 7 days that week. He had because of this policy used up all his sick and vacation time for this year on check ups due to him having cancer last year. Recently I had my own medical scare and he had to leave work to take me to the ER and now they are doc'ing him a day vacation for it. I think they are heartless as well as violating the law. He says there is nothing he can do cause he signed on for this when he got hired and knew there was no comp time. Who is right? And what can we do? It is a small business but is an LLC and we are in Oklahoma if that makes a difference.

leolady37 · Nov 25, 2009, 01:57 PM

Oh... I made a mistake in my post. They are doc'ing his paycheck for a day wages for the partial day his missed for taking me to the ER. Even though he worked the rest of the week and even worked that weekend. This is hard to swallow especially right before Christmas. Please help

twinkiedooter · Nov 25, 2009, 02:03 PM

You said your husband "signed up for this when he got hired and knew there was no comp time". This should pretty much answer your own question. The company is just exerting and exercising it's company's policies regarding time in the office and time on the road, etc. He is right. You unfortunately are wrong about this. The company is not heartless as you put it and no, they are not violating the law as he is a salaried employee. There would be a totally different answer had he been an hourly worker.

Basically there is nothing you or he can do as he did sign up knowing full well there was no comp time offered by this company. He should be at least grateful that he has/had some vacation time to use for the missed time.

leolady37 · Nov 25, 2009, 04:28 PM

Ok but from my research, it is illegal for them to doc his vacation or pay if he misses less than 1 day. Such as coming in late for doctors appointment and doc'ing him 1/2 day vacation. Am I mistaken? He is not a supervisor, managorial, executive, or anything that appears to exempt him from that federal law. He thinks it has to do w/ the company structure but I don't see anything to do w/ company structure in what I read. And he is not under contract. He basically signed something that says he has read and understands the employee handbook which everyone has to anytime they get hired on in most companies, so I don't think that would give them free reign to break the law regardless if it is in their company handbook and policies. Right?

excon · Nov 26, 2009, 06:04 AM

Hello leo:

Salary is a two way street... You're paid it when you work 65 hours a week, and you're paid it when you work 32...

If his boss only wants to take advantage of the salary arrangement when it meets HIS needs, and not his employees needs, he's breaking the law.

The problem now becomes what to DO about it... He can certainly SUE them, and I would... But, he will, of course, lose his job if he does.

Tell me what you want to do, and I'll tell you how to do it.

excon

Fr_Chuck · Nov 26, 2009, 07:48 PM

The company can decide if they allow 1/2 day comp time or it has to be a full time.

Ok if he knows he is doc a full day, he just takes off the full day, why is he going back in, if he knows he is being doc

leolady37 · Nov 26, 2009, 09:06 PM

Because he gets in trouble if he doesn't. He tries to make it where he is only getting doc'd 1/2 day instead of a full day by going in. The point is that he is now being doc'd wages because he didn't work his 8-5 m-f but ended up working on the weekend. Its like they treat him like he's hourly when it suits them and salary when it suits them. They say they have no comp time policy but allow vacation and sick time, however he gets called on vacation and when he is sick. Last time we tried to take a vacation, he spent 3 hrs on a conference call w/ the owner of the company. Its all fine and dandy for them to call him salary when he is working 60 or more hours a week for weeks on end and not give him OT pay, but then they want to treat him like an hourly employee when he needs a partial weekday off to take me to the er and doc his pay?

leolady37 · Nov 26, 2009, 09:14 PM

And I know he will lose his job if he sues... but how can we make them see they are breaking the law not just for his sake but the rest of the employee's sakes in this office w/o risking his job. And unlike Walmart, this is a small company and would go under w/ a large lawsuit so we'd probably get nothing anyway. The owner thinks he can do whatever he wants and flies off the handle at a given moment but luckily lives out of town, so he's always at risk of losing his job anyway. I keep telling him to look for another job but he's reluctant because of the economy and what he says is his 'lack of education' in his field.

Fr_Chuck · Nov 26, 2009, 10:21 PM

Well first I don't see where they are breaking any law. And there is no "big law suit" even if for some reason you were able to sue, it would only be for the value of the days off, but if he took off on his MONDAY to FRI shift, his working weekend does not make up the difference.

But this is the issue of working salary over working hourly.

leolady37 · Nov 29, 2009, 07:57 AM

Apparently I misstated myself when I said his m-f 8-5 shift or was misunderstood. He worked all the days but one. What I meant was that he hadn't completed the 'full' week in their eyes, so they are going to doc him 8 hours. It just seems they want to treat him like he's salary when he has ot so they don't have to pay, then like he's hourly when he misses time so they don't have to pay him his '40 hours' even though he actually worked more than 40 hrs that week. I don't see how anyone can think that is legal or how it can be if it is.

excon · Nov 29, 2009, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by leolady37

I dont see how anyone can think that is legal or how it can be if it is.

Hello again, lady:

I agree. As you can see, there are others who don't. Of course, these diverse opinions are to be expected when dealing with the law. Keep in mind, that in every lawsuit, there's one attorney who believes one thing, and then there's another attorney standing on the other side, who believes exactly the opposite...

The above notwithstanding, the question remains, what is your husband going to DO about it.

Here is what I would do, if I were you/hubby. Please consider, however, that I would be willing to be fired over this problem, as I just can't abide being ripped off, IF that turns out to be the case.

Toward that end, I'd hire an employment attorney to look into it. It oughtn't take an attorney more than an hour to make a determination at a cost of no more than $500 (you want the BEST, don't you?)... He can, of course, do this WITHOUT revealing your hubby's name to the company.

If he finds that there IS a violation, and he's willing to represent you, and the damages are substantial enough, then I believe you can find other employees willing to join in your suit. There's strength in numbers, so I don't think they'll fire everybody.

There ARE risks, of course.

excon