Is it illegal in Massachusetts to work over 40 hours and receive no overtime pay? Please don't guess.?

Question

I work 50-60 hours/week and I am paid straight time for all my hours. I believe I should be getting paid overtime for the hours over 40 but the owner says that's up to him and that if I want to continue to work that many hours then I have to take straight time pay. Please don't guess at your answers as I want to know for sure before I say anything at work. If you don't know the answer or how to find it then please don't answer. I assume I should either check with the labor board or OSHA, does that sound right?

Answer 1

For covered, nonexempt employees, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)  requires overtime pay to be at least one and one-half times an employee's regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek. Some exceptions apply under special circumstances to police and firefighters and to employees of hospitals and nursing homes.

Some states have overtime laws. In cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal overtime laws, the employee is entitled to overtime according to the higher standard (i.e., the standard that will provide the higher overtime pay).

A lot depends on the type of job.

Check the Dept. of Labor at:

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/o...

Answer 2

The correct answer is - it depends.  If you fall under the Fair Labor Standards Act as an exempt employee, you are not entitled to overtime (it would be at the employer's discretion).  If you are non-exempt, you must be paid at least time-and-a=half under most circumstance for the hours worked over 40 in a week (there are some exemptions to this strict rule if you work like a 45-35 set of weeks).  Since you didn't mention your occupation, there is no way of guessing here.

OSHA is not the federal agency to help you - you need to contact the local office of the Employment Standards Administration of the US Department of Labor (they have a Boston office).

Below is a site with some information on Massachusetts labor laws, which may be different from Federal labor laws.

http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/overtime.h...

Answer 3

"salaried" employees are generally not entitled to overtime, but, in your case, you might be.  Federal law dictates that companies who do business 'across state lines' or in more than one state must pay overtime for all hours over 40 in a regular workweek.  the question is often whether hours in excess of 8 per day means overtime.  Not usually, unless it is the employer's policy.  They can't do it for one employee and not for all....

Call a Massachusetts Labor office and get the "right" answer.  Don't look for legal advice on Yahoo "Answers"

Answer 4

Yes check with labor board or a lawyer. In most states it is illegal to not pay overttime. So check into it.

Answer 5

More than likely you should be paid overtime but this depends on your position. See the link below, question 7.

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=elwdterminal...

Answer 6

I remember reading somewhere that you can not make your own deal and make less than the law requires in Massachusetts. However there are some people who work for what they call  salary where the person makes the same per week whether they work less or more than forty hours. If you take this boss to the labor board in my state and he is found to be violating the law, you could ask the dept for triple what he kept from you. They call it treble damages.

Answer 7

It depends on your position but mostly all workers are entitled to overtime.

Here's the state website:

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=elwdconstitu...