Hello,
I currently work for a companies I.T. department as a Sr. Field Engineer. My position’s duties are as followed: Travel to newly acquired facilities around the United States and replace all network and computer infrastructure over the weekend. Then support the facility onsite for the next few days, travel travel home and prepare for the next location.
When I started this position in 2011 I was hourly and getting paid overtime and was working between 40 and 50 hours a week. In 2013 I was informed by my director we (me and my co-workers) would be switched to salary which was approx less than $88,000. It was my understanding that due to the type of work we do we do not classify as Overtime Exempt. When I asked my director of the legality of switching us to salary he responded, “We can do whatever we want. You just need to sign your name.” I told him I didn’t think that’s how things work to which he replied, “What are you going to do? Sue us? You can either sign it right now or we can part ways.” Since I did have another job nor the financial means to quit I had to accept the salary.
When other employees started to ask about overtime the Director told us we can have comp-time instead of overtime and to keep track of it on our companies internal SharePoint site. About a year later some higher ups got wind that we got comp-time and issued a memo to the directors reminding them that the company does not do comp-time. The director got upset that we were keeping track of the comp-time, as he told us to, and told us there will not be anymore comp-time and we cannot call it comp-time, however we can call it “Time-for-Time” but we have a month to use it from the time it was acquired or we lose it. Due to our busy scheduled it makes it very hard to use any “Time-for-Time”, typically we have to schedule vacations over a year in advance, so we normally lose this time.
Flash forward to present and I have never been given a raise not even cost of living, I work between 80 – 100 hours a week, I work 27 out of 30 days a month, of which most of the time is spent preparing for the next trip.
So my question is: Am I legally required to collect overtime for my position? And if so what is the best way to leverage my company into paying me correctly.
Hi Anonymous-CA-Computer-Tech,
Thank you for your question. Unfortunately, to accurately answer it, I would need a lot more information about your job. I would need to know, for example: how much discretion and independent judgment you exercise when performing your duties, what kind of specialized education is required for someone in your position, does your job require a license, do you supervise anyone, and how much of your job is performed in the State of California?
With the information you presented, it sounds like you might qualify as an exempt professional employee. Again,I would need more facts to be sure. You can review the requirements for that exemption in our article here: The Professional Exemption to California’s Wage & Hour Laws.
This Q&A section is intended for employees with questions that are quick and generalized. It’s not well-equipped for the kind of fact-specific inquiry you’re presenting here. My best advice to you would be to contact an employment attorney to have them conduct a thorough review of your situation.
I hope this information helps. Please remember that this information does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on. Nor does it create an attorney-client relationship.
I wish you the best of luck in your situation!