Employee rights mandatory overtime


Overtime wages are a type of increased payment that employees can earn when they work more than a certain number of hours in a workday or workweek. Most non-exempt employees in California have a legal right to receive overtime wages when they work long hours. In fact, more unpaid overtime settlements are made in California than in any other state. The Legal Background in California. The payment of higher wages for hours that exceed a normal amount of work serves two goals.


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WATCH RELATED VIDEO: New Department of Labor Overtime Rule- HR Minute

Refusing to work overtime - whose right is that?


Mandatory overtime is the practice of requiring employees to work more than a standard hour workweek. It is sometimes referred to as compulsory or forced overtime. Simply put, employers can make workers put in as many extra hours as the employer sees fit.

Employers can terminate workers who refuse to work a mandatory overtime schedule. There is no federal penalty for doing so as long as employees receive overtime pay. The FLSA does not prohibit employers from requiring mandatory overtime for the vast majority of workers. Instead, it mandates that employers who do make hourly employees work more than 40 hours per week receive extra pay.

For all hours over 40 in a workweek, employees must be paid one and a half their regular hourly rate. This is commonly referred to as time-and-a-half or the overtime rate.

Several federal laws provide for limited exceptions to the general rule that forced, compulsory overtime is mandatory. For example, employees working under a union contract may have the right to refuse compulsory overtime.

Mandatory overtime hours that impact health and safety may violate OSHA rules. Finally, the FLSA does prohibit mandatory overtime for youth workers under the age of There are several reasons that employers may choose to require mandatory overtime for workers. First, current employees know their jobs. If employers hired additional employees and paid them the regular hourly rate rather than overtime , new hires would need training.

And that costs time and money. Plus, new employees mean additional costs for benefits. Second, in a robust economy such as the current one, employers are having trouble finding qualified applicants. Third, employers may not need workers for mandatory overtime on a regular basis.

Otherwise, employers might have to rely on temporary employees or continuously hire and lay off workers as needs ebb and flow. Finally, make sure that your mandatory overtime schedules are reasonable and not harmful. Requiring excessively long shifts may interfere with both productivity and safety. Plus, some industry regulators do limit total hours worked for some employees. These rules serve as mandatory overtime limitations. Workers affected include truckers, pilots and others in high-risk positions.

For covered employers with 50 or more workers, the FMLA applies. Eligible workers are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for their own illnesses. Leave is also available to care for a close relative or to bond with a new child. Additional leave is available for military members and their families. Plus, when an employee needs FMLA leave for their own serious health condition, they can take that leave intermittently.

FMLA leave is an entitlement. Mandatory overtime does not trump the right to FMLA leave for any covered reason. Take, for example, an employee who periodically suffers from migraine headaches.

If a doctor certifies the need for intermittent leave when a headache happens, the employer must allow time off.

Thus, the employee can call off for a migraine even is he was already scheduled for a mandatory overtime shift. Similarly, an employee with an FMLA certification limiting hours per week cannot be forced to work overtime. Nor can a worker who needs FMLA leave for a seriously ill child, parent or spouse.

Employers should also be aware that there are special FMLA leave rules for those who have worked mandatory overtime before taking leave. How you count hours missed depends on whether overtime was mandatory or voluntary.

If an employee missed voluntary overtime for a serious health condition, do not count the missed time as FMLA leave. On the other hand, if the missed time was mandatory overtime , count it against the FMLA entitlement.

But you must also credit regularly worked mandatory overtime hours towards FMLA eligibility. The ADA requires employers to make reasonable accommodations that allow disabled workers to perform the essential functions of their jobs.

Disabled workers may be entitled to schedule changes as part of those reasonable accommodations. Those accommodations can include restrictions on the number of hours worked per day or week. Thus, it may be a reasonable accommodation to excuse any mandatory overtime. If a disabled employee requests to be exempted from compulsory overtime, make sure you start the interactive accommodations process. That is, explore the claimed disability, review medical certifications and restrictions and discuss alternatives.

See if there are other possible solutions. Are there other employees willing and able to pick up the shifts? Could the disabled employee work some overtime shifts, but not others? Individuals who are members of one of the military branches may be called to active duty periodically.

For example, reservists may have to train one weekend per month. Or they may be called to temporary active duty during natural disasters or military conflicts. Employers may not discipline service members if their military obligations interfere with scheduled mandatory overtime.

Like FMLA leave , military leave is an entitlement. You must also reinstate the service member when his or her service is completed. Plus, you must credit them with seniority as if they had never left. The Occupational Health and Safety Act ACT requires employers to provide a workplace free of hazards causing serious physical harm or worse.

Whether those hazards include extreme mandatory overtime is a matter of interpretation. OSHA, which administers the Act, believes that requiring unreasonable hours may qualify. Though there are no specific OSHA standards, the agency does raise fatigue as a possible danger.

The agency urges employers to use common sense and not overwork employees during extended mandatory overtime. It has extensive guidance on its web page here. The FLSA along with many state child labor laws limit the hours employees under 18 can work. The FLSA classifies employees younger than sixteen years old as youth employees.

Employers cannot hire workers who are not at least 14 years old there are some very limited exceptions. Once hired, youth employees have work hour restrictions. Youth employees aged may work outside school hours performing non-manufacturing, non-mining, non-hazardous jobs.

But they cannot work more than 3 hours per day on school days. Nor can they work more than 18 hours per week in school weeks or 8 hours a day on non-school days. They may never work more than 40 hours per week even when school is not in session. In other words, they can never work mandatory overtime , even in the summer. Employers should check whether their state may have additional requirements for overtime, whether mandatory or voluntary. For example, California requires that employees receive overtime pay for all hours worked beyond 8 per hour period.

Some state laws also require meal and rest breaks at various times during an extended shift. Business Management Daily. Anniken Davenport. Why mandatory overtime? How to Fire an Employee the Legal Way: 7 termination guidelines. Maternity Leave Laws. Workplace Violence Prevention. Employee Background Check Guidelines.



Working hours

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Do employers have to give employees notice of their rights under the FLSA? hours that employees may work, and overtime may be mandatory. 29 CFR.

Marcia Hultman

Information for agricultural employers. Information for manufacturing and cannery employers. Information about exempt employees. If you think your employer is violating this law, you can make a complaint or contact us to get help. ORS It could begin on any day or hour your employer chooses as long as it remains the same each week. The answer depends on the number of hours you worked during the workweek. If you are paid on an hourly basis, that amount is the regular rate. Your regular rate may not be less than the minimum wage. If you are paid a salary, based on a hour workweek, your regular rate is determined as follows:.


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employee rights mandatory overtime

In addition to normal working hours, employers may require their staff to work compulsory overtime. Just as employers must include accurate detail of normal working hours in the main terms of the employment contract see working time regulations , they must also include reasonable detail of expected compulsory overtime. Employers must ensure that their current holiday pay calculations are in line with the relevant legislation and case law that protects employee rights regarding compulsory overtime and holiday pay entitlement. Failure to do so may result in a tribunal claim against the employer. Although an employer is within their rights to include a compulsory overtime clause as part of the employment contract , they cannot legally ask employees to work longer than 48 hours on average in any given week.

Maine state statute recognizes the exemption from overtime for people working in a "bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity" and requires that employers pay a salary according to the requirements of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act FLSA. Both Maine and federal law use a three-pronged test to determine if an employee is exempt from the overtime provisions of the law.

Mandatory Overtime and Payroll

Iowa is a state that allows people to earn an honest living through employment at wages regulated by state and federal laws. Workers are afforded certain rights, but these rights can vary depending on the job a person works. Many workers are hourly employees subject to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act FLSA , but salaried employees are often exempt from these protections. If you believe that your employer has not fairly compensated you for work you performed, you are entitled to exercise your rights. You will want to hire an Employment Law Attorney who has the experience and resources necessary to help you hold your employer accountable.


Can my employer make overtime mandatory?

An Official Website of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The division is charged with investigating allegations of statute and regulation violations and rendering findings in a timely and efficient manner. General questions regarding wage and hour and child labor laws should be directed to or emailed to wages ky. The following working hours restrictions apply to all minors 14 to 17 years of age who are enrolled in school, dropped out of school or participating in a homeschool program. These restrictions do not apply to minors who have graduated.

As long as the overtime work is compensated properly and does not create an unsafe working environment, mandatory overtime is legal under.

Can an employer require its employees to work overtime?

If a request for reasonable overtime made by the employer to the employee is refused, it could have consequences for the employee. Similarly, if the overtime hours requested are unreasonable, it could have consequences for the employer. An employee may refuse to work overtime hours if the overtime hours are unreasonable. Pursuant to section 62 of the Fair Work Act , and adapted in some modern awards, factors to be considered when determining whether the overtime hours to be worked are reasonable, include:.


Michigan Wage and Overtime Law

RELATED VIDEO: Working 6 Days A Week feels like No Days Off! - Mandatory Overtime is totally LEGAL!!!

Employers understand that overtime law is complex and difficult for employees to understand without assistance. Employers often utilize similar tricks and ploys to deny employees Texas overtime pay. Employees who are able to recognize them are better equipped to move swiftly to protect their overtime rights. In addition to an employer flatly refusing to answer employees' questions about overtime pay, these tactics include:.

More than one in five workers in the U.

Compulsory overtime

Mandatory overtime is when employers require employees to work in excess of 40 hours per workweek, even if employees don't want to. Subsequently, employees often refer to it as forced mandatory overtime or simply forced overtime. There is no Federal mandatory overtime law per se, that specifically regulates so-called forced overtime. Federal overtime law under the FLSA does not prohibit employers from forcing employees to work mandatory overtime. In fact, the FLSA doesn't at all restrict the total number of work hours that employers may schedule for employees who are age 16 or older. The FLSA restricts work hours only for employees who are younger than age In other words, there are no protections under the FLSA for workers 16 and older who refuse to work mandatory overtime.

What is mandatory overtime? A legal look at this common practice

JavaScript must be enabled for some features to display properly. Enable JavaScript by changing your browser options, and then try again. If an employer furnishes uniforms with the company logo, can the employee be charged for the cost and, if the employee quits without returning the uniform, can the employer deduct the cost from the employees' final wages?


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