What Tech Workers Need To Know About Overtime

onehitwonder writes "The class-action lawsuit that current and former Apple employees have filed against the company raises questions about what kinds of workers are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — and thus, what kinds of workers are eligible for overtime pay. Some tech workers are covered under it; some are not though perhaps they should be. The lawyer who got IBM workers a $65M settlement from Big Blue for violating labor laws explains why employers often deny tech workers overtime pay and the circumstances under which certain tech workers may or may not be covered under the FLSA. From the article: 'It's not uncommon for employers to err on the side of classifying employees as exempt [from the FLSA], says Sagafi... In fact, the dirty little secret among employers and HR departments is that classifying employees as exempt — even if it means breaking the law — is in their best interest[,] provided... that they don't get caught... "In a sense, they may see it as economically viable for them to skirt the law and wait to see if they get sued because the exposure is not that huge [if they don't get sued]," Sagafi says. "If they can settle [a complaint] for less than 100 percent of what they owe people [for overtime], they've gotten away with a good deal."'"

Comments

Re:FPMITA Is the solution

[Fulcrum of Evil]

So I'm responsible for someone ignoring a defect on the car I bought (or covering it up) and also for companies using their leverage to screw me out of legally guaranteed rights? You've got to be a troll.

Re:One solution

[jcr]

So you're saying that Apple should be allowed to break the law?

I said nothing of the kind. BTW, when did you stop beating your wife?

-jcr

Re:One solution

[jcr]

So, you believe in guilt by accusation, I take it?

-jcr

Re:Overtime

[SQLGuru]

Having 5 people work an extra 2 hours per day is actually cheaper than hiring another employee to share the load (benefits costs, payroll taxes, training, desk space, facilities, etc.). If the people you have will tolerate the increased hours (whether paid as OT or not), let them do it; it will save you in the long run.

Now, if you are asking for 4 or 5 more hours per day then you'll need to hire another person because at those levels, you are bound to run off at least one of your existing employees.

Layne

Quit or be fired

[Spazmania]

Any network engineer or system administrator who doesn't fall under the "administrative exemption" should be fired. Seriously. Doing the job competently requires the constant exercise of independent judgment and discretion. If you're not doing that then either your boss is an incompetent control freak (in which case you should quit and find a better boss) or you are lazy slug who lacks initiative (in which case you should be fired).

Help desk and in some cases field tech might not fall under this, but then they're not engineers or administrators: they're technicians.