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Need advise re: salaried exempt employee, Dept. of Labour says there is nothing I can do
Hi everyone.
I'll try not to make this a book. Any and all adivce is greatly appreciated as I am not in familiar territory. I am a Canadian citizen, working in the USA on a TN Visa and am not familiar with the labour laws here at all.
I work as a project engineer for a general contractor. Hours are as needed to complete the work, and include a mandatory Saturday/Sunday schedule. I average 55 hours per week, not including the weeknd work, which amounts to an additional two full days every six weeks. We are required to complete timesheets, but are not allowed to enter the actual amount of hours worked. The amount entered is dictated by my employer, and is much lower than the actual hours that any of us work. The MD Dept. of Labour tells me that this is a fair procedure given that we are exempt employees. (I do understand the need to track sick/vacation time, etc.)
My problem is that my employer is pushing my entire team to work 60 - 70 hours every week. I work over an hour away from home and simply cannot do this. It is generally acknowledged amongst our team of six that our emplyer is trying to get us to work very long hours in order to compensate for bidding a job with a budget that is too small for the engineering team. i.e. they want six of us to do the work of eight. Again, the MD Dept. of Labour tells me there is no wrong doing.
Does anyone have any advise? I am fearful that if I do not comply they will terminate me (which they can do since this is a "work at will" state.) I have been looking for new employment for a couple of months, but the sector I work in is very specific and jobs are hard to find right now. I am not eligible for unemployment due to my work status, but am still considering giving notice of resignation, with the thinking that it would be better to resign than be terminated in this situation.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? I would appreciate any advice, even if it is that I am out of luck. Thanks.
Re: Need advise re: salaried exempt employee, Dept. of Labour says there is nothing I can do
My employers have been doing this to me for years. One company I worked for had us working 80 hours a week with some regularity.
Nothing illegal about it... We were salaried and if we didn't like it, we were free to quit.
74 books read in 2011
I can speak from two sides. I am in HR. My husband is a project engineer in a position that sounds very similar to yours.
He works 60+ hours (average) a week. This week, he is working 8pm-8am Mon-Fri and will work during the day on Sunday as well. I HATE it. He isn't home when I am, I can't sleep when he isn't there, it sucks.
But, they are doing nothing illegal. He is free to look for a new job. Our state is at-will as well (most are... I think only one state isn't) so they could terminate him for refusing.
FET - transferred two embryos (boy and girl) - Nov 2014 - BFP!
I guess I will continue with the job search then. Thanks for the input ladies.
Do you certify/sign your timesheets as accurate? Some clients, namely the federal government, require accurate time accounting as part of their contracts, and have auditors to back it up and investigate. Depending on the contract type (FFP vs cost-plus), there are probably negative impacts to showing all the extra hours you have been working. It's too complicated to explain on the Nest, but suffice it to say that even though you don't get paid, it can lower your company's profit calculations. Additionally, if you receive any benefits on a per hour basis or are eligible for comp time, they will not be calculated accurately.
As a salaried employee, at a minimum you should be able to record your time accurately because you will not be compensated for the difference. I don't know where you are in the corporate heirarchy, but if your company is large enough to have an ombudsman I'd go to them. If not, I'd go to HR and ask for an ethics hotline so you can make an anonymous call. If they don't have that, I'd go to your client and ask them for a copy of the contract you're on so you can review, and/or ask them if they require accurate time reporting as part of it. And definitely keep up the job search! GL!