For those on Salary

[sparks19]

I have a question....

I know salary has it's ups and downs.... and I know a lot of the time you have to work overtime that is not paid or compensated..... but at what point does it get to be "abuse" of your time?

How many hours a week should you have to work with no compensated pay or compensated time off? it seems a little ridiculous to me.

At some point it seems that your time is free and there is nothing you can do about it. oif course I know people on salary who's bosses do not take advantage of their time..... but I know there are some people who's bosses DO take advantage of this.

At what point should you say enough and deserve comp time?

[elizabethann]

Are you putting in extra hours every single week?

I'm on salary but I don't work more than 40 hours every single week. And when I do, I just come in late, leave early or take a longer lunch. I don't ask anybody for permission. I just do it. If they have a problem with it, they can show me the door.

There are times when I know I have to work 60+ work weeks. Sometimes my boss will say "take a day off". Like this past Friday, my boss said to leave early because I had put in extra hours on Wednesday.

If you think your boss is taking advantage of you, I would sit down with him/her and discuss you taking some comp time.

[Freedom]

A lot depends on the industry as each is different.

In the accounting world, 60 hour per week each and every week is normal. If you are working as an accountant or CPA in a top firm, that's what you should expect going in. Of course, that is usually not a year round thing that is what it averages out to be. During "tax season," you work whatever it takes to get the job done; and the rest of the year you do 35 to 40 hours.

In the legal world, if you are working as an attorney, a 75 hour week once per month and 60 hours per the rest of the time is normal. Which is why I did that for just ONE year; to pay off all those horrendous student loans.

Which industry are you in? Sorry, I don't remember.
Sandie

[Blue_Frog]

I'm on salary -- and depending on deadlines, I work evenings and weekends too, to meet those deadlines, or product doesn't ship on time. However, I get time off to make up for it -- my boss has always been really good about it.

I find though, in a lot of salaried Tech kind of jobs (like Software dev, testing, support, etc.) they tend to get taken advantage of -- you end up working a 60hr week without compensation. I remember looking into it on the HRDC website once, and there are some kinds of job classes that is allowed in without compensation. I can probabally find you the link still, mind you, its Canada rules :)

[sparks19]

Just to clarify .... this is not my job I am speaking about lol. I am not on salary.... I have a wonderful boss.... and I love my job.

But the job in question is in the computer industry. He puts in more than 40 every week. He often has to work late at night from home (remote desktop stuff) or bring his work home a lot of the time. He has to work full days on the weekends etc etc. WHICH I understand is expected.... BUT.... my biggest issue is that when he asks in advanced for ONE hour a month to take me to my OBGYN he gets a TON of grief and they make him feel like garbage. Also..... they don't even ask before they schedule a weekend day. IMO, it is just a matter of respect that they would ask if he is available for a weekend day when they KNOW in advanced. More often than not he will have no problem with it but they don't even ask. They tell him he has to put his PERSONAL schedule on his work schedule.... WHAT???? I have never heard of that. Does he have to put when we have sex on the schedule to? lol

My main issue is that they don't treat him with any kind of respect at all. I don't think it is too much to ask. AND the other employees feel the same way and are in the same boat as him. They feel they are being taken advantage of and they just don't make enough for the amount of hours they put in. It just seems that even AFTER hours if they have family commitments they are given grief about not being available to work every single night and weekend without ANY kind of compensation. It's just a blatant lack of repsect IMO.

[elizabethann]

That's awful. It sounds like they're making their employees put in all these hours & they don't really give a damn about their personal life. It's a shame. Because this person probably wouldn't mind putting in extra hours if the company let him take time off without it being an issue - give him the respect he deserves.

This guy has to ask himself a question...is it all worth it?

[sparks19]

That's awful. It sounds like they're making their employees put in all these hours & they don't really give a damn about their personal life. It's a shame. Because this person probably wouldn't mind putting in extra hours if the company let him take time off without it being an issue - give him the respect he deserves.

This guy has to ask himself a question...is it all worth it?

It's my husband lol.... and he doesn't mind working extra hours.... it's really the lack of respect for his personal and family time that really gets him and me. Now the guy that runs the company does not do the family thing.... he just doesn't "get it" so he has no idea why it's such a big deal I suppose. and the boss can't understand WHY he wants to be at my baby appt's.

He is definately going to start looking elsewhere because it is getting to be just too much.

[Edwina's Secretary]

What you are referring is Exempt....meaning exempt from overtime payments (salary is a form of making payment that can be used for non-exempt, i.e. overtime eligible and exempt.)

If the position he holds is computer-related, it is VERY possible the position is incorrectly clasified as Exempt, especially after something called the 541 revisions.

All this is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a federal law. Most states also have laws regarding this, I am sure Michigan does. Sometimes the State law may be even more restrictive on the employer.

Computer positions that are eligible for exempt status are primarily ones that involve creating new programs based on customer requirements, some testing where test cases are written, and SOME help desk....but very few. There are also some salary minimums required in order for a position to be exempt.

Many employers believe all computer-related positions are exempt which is simply NOT true. If there is a human resource department he may want to ask if under the Section 541 regulations of the FLSA his position should be classifed as exempt or non-exempt.

[sparks19]

What you are referring is Exempt....meaning exempt from overtime payments (salary is a form of making payment that can be used for non-exempt, i.e. overtime eligible and exempt.)

If the position he holds is computer-related, it is VERY possible the position is incorrectly clasified as Exempt, especially after something called the 541 revisions.

All this is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a federal law. Most states also have laws regarding this, I am sure Michigan does. Sometimes the State law may be even more restrictive on the employer.

Computer positions that are eligible for exempt status are primarily ones that involve creating new programs based on customer requirements, some testing where test cases are written, and SOME help desk....but very few. There are also some salary minimums required in order for a position to be exempt.

Many employers believe all computer-related positions are exempt which is simply NOT true. If there is a human resource department he may want to ask if under the Section 541 regulations of the FLSA his position should be classifed as exempt or non-exempt.

There isn't an HRA department. it is a VERY small company. other than the owner there are 3 employees lol. I don't know what the job is classified as. All I know is he makes a fixed amount every year/ every week regardless of hours worked or what have you. I just know it as salary lol so I don't really know the specifics.

[Edwina's Secretary]

If he is not paid for hours in excess of 40 in a workweek, his position is classified as exempt. He might ask the company owner the same question.

[sparks19]

If he is not paid for hours in excess of 40 in a workweek, his position is classified as exempt. He might ask the company owner the same question.


AH I did not know that.

[Blue_Frog]

There isn't an HRA department. it is a VERY small company. other than the owner there are 3 employees lol. I don't know what the job is classified as. All I know is he makes a fixed amount every year/ every week regardless of hours worked or what have you. I just know it as salary lol so I don't really know the specifics.

OH man... even worse! Working for IT in a small company that doesn't care about the employees is awful. Does he have to carry the 'on call' cell phone as well without pay? (been there, done that) :( He may have to put his foot down on the important things like taking you to the dr. or things like "I'm not working these extra hours without comp" - or go home on the button at shift end regardless -- again, with the understanding that it could go two ways - they will bend because they need him, hes trained and knows the job -or- he could lose the job over it, and look for a new job. I completly understand, having worked in different tech companies for a bunch of years. And i'm sure that the last thing that your hubby wants to do is affect his co-workers who sound like theyre in the boat -- maybe they could all go together to the boss and figure out something?

It's a hard spot to be in, but regardless -- life is too short to be stressed out about work all the time. If hes coming home unhappy about work almost every day, and not wanting to go back for shift start, its time to update the resume and look around for something better -- good luck!