Q: Can an employer force me to not clock in on my 5th work day if I’ve already worked 40 hrs by my 4th day?
I’m a remote field service technician employee based in California and my company is based in Nevada. We have a policy that states the remote employees labor laws will be based on their home location.
My job is forcing us to cut OT. For example, if I already have worked 40 hours by my 4th day of work (including daily OT), then on my 5th day, I am not to clock in.
Is this legal? My manager is telling us that we are guaranteed a minimum of 40 hours a week and forcing us to compensate hours on our 5th day is legal.
Is this some sort of gray area of labor laws, or totally acceptable? My job is a M-F type of job.
A: The answer to your question does NOT fall in a gray area. It is unlawful for an employer not to pay you for your work. If you are a non-exempt employee, when you work overtime your employer must pay you premium pay. An employee must be paid one and one-half times his or her regular rate of pay for all hours worked over eight hours in any workday and over 40 hours in the workweek. The premium pay rate for overtime goes up to double the employee's regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 12 hours in any workday and for all hours worked in excess of eight on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek. If you are a non-exempt employee (and generally speaking, a field service technician would fall into that category), then your employer is treating you unfairly and not paying you according to law. You should contact an employment lawyer.
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