First and foremost, this is a great site and I truly appreciate any help any of you can give. My employer (a beverage company) has recently changed a large portion of our office from salary plus commission to hourly plus commission because " previously we were not in compliance with federal labor laws." I took this to mean they were working someone 60-70 hours a week and got sued. Our job title ends in "manager," but 90% of what we do is not management. We service and deliver product and try to sell at the same time.
My main question regards how we are supposed to be compensated for overnight runs. Some of the employees stay out of town one or two nights a week. The company pays for a hotel and I think they allow about $30 for meals. Prior to April of this year, this did not happen. We terminated a "satellite employee" and upper management decided to run that area from the local office instead of hiring another satellite. With fuel cost what they are (even with the recent drop), we are now scheduling other employees who service outlying areas to do the same. We pay the employee(s) from the time they call the office in the AM at their first stop to the time they call the office from their last stop. I can understand how a salaried employee would figure away from home time (at the initial time of employment) in his/her compensation package, but how is an hourly employee compensated? Personally, if I'm not at my house, with my family, doing whatever I want to do, I think I should be compensated for it.
My secondary question regards "on call" pay. The employees all take turns "on call." Previously, it was included in our salary. Now, we get paid hourly OT for night and weekend calls. Again, if I have to sit at home and stare at the phone from 5 PM Friday to 7 AM Monday and can't do anything (dinner, movie, go to the lake, visit my parents, etc.) I would think I should be compensated for it even if I don' t get any service calls.
I read some other threads and saw some related to travel time, but did not find anything like this. I have also searched the TDL and USDOL websites and could not find a clear ruling on this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.
LPierson.
My main question regards how we are supposed to be compensated for overnight runs. Some of the employees stay out of town one or two nights a week. The company pays for a hotel and I think they allow about $30 for meals. Prior to April of this year, this did not happen. We terminated a "satellite employee" and upper management decided to run that area from the local office instead of hiring another satellite. With fuel cost what they are (even with the recent drop), we are now scheduling other employees who service outlying areas to do the same. We pay the employee(s) from the time they call the office in the AM at their first stop to the time they call the office from their last stop. I can understand how a salaried employee would figure away from home time (at the initial time of employment) in his/her compensation package, but how is an hourly employee compensated? Personally, if I'm not at my house, with my family, doing whatever I want to do, I think I should be compensated for it.
My secondary question regards "on call" pay. The employees all take turns "on call." Previously, it was included in our salary. Now, we get paid hourly OT for night and weekend calls. Again, if I have to sit at home and stare at the phone from 5 PM Friday to 7 AM Monday and can't do anything (dinner, movie, go to the lake, visit my parents, etc.) I would think I should be compensated for it even if I don' t get any service calls.
I read some other threads and saw some related to travel time, but did not find anything like this. I have also searched the TDL and USDOL websites and could not find a clear ruling on this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.
LPierson.