Q: My employer wants us to work OT at the regular rate to pay back front-loaded sick time. Is that legal?
My employer is providing a one-time loan of 40 hours of PTO due to Covid and loss of work for winter weather (we're a construction company). They would like us to pay back that money by working overtime, though they'll only compensate us at our regular rate of pay, citing the risk that they are taking that an employee will leave before paying back the benefit. Is this legal? Shouldn't we pay back that loan at either our regular rate, if we work up to 40 hours, or our overtime rate (1.5x) if we work overtime?
A: Yes, they cannot do that. No matter what, other than if you are exempt from OT in general, if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you are owed OT.
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