Belo Compensation Plan vs. actual OT hours worked

[Gepetto]

Three (3) years ago, my employer started paying a selected group of employees by a Belo Compensation Plan. Each employee's individual agreement states that the employee shall be paid for fifty (50) hours regardless of actual hours worked each week and will receive additional overtime wages only when working more than fifty (50) hours in a given workweek.

The intention is to work a schedule of fluctuating hours per week that should average out to about forty (40) hours per week and/or two thousand eighty (2080) total cumulative hours annually, though this is not necessarily spelled out in the written agreement(s).

Our issue with this is that many of us, through reviewing our time card data for the previous three (3) years, can verify that we work on average more than forty (40) hours per week or in excess of up to two thousand three hundred (2300) hours annually;averaging about forty-four to forty-five (44-45) hours per week or more.


Does this arrangement meet standards and criteria for the Fair Labor Standards Act stating that employee(s) must be paid time and a half (1.5x) wages for all hours over forty(40) per workweek; knowing that we will average more than forty (40) hours?

If not, are we entitled to any payment for back wages for the previous three (3) years?

OR:
Must one have language contained within the written Belo Agreement(s) stating and/or requiring the maximum number of total cumulative hours per year be set at two thousand eighty (2080) to ensure that ALL hours of overtime beyond forty (40), weekly or in average, are indeed paid at the proper time and a half (1.5x) rate?

Thank you in advance for your time and advice; we greatly appreciate any assistance you may offer.

 

[presutin]

I have found this interesting article online. Check it out to find the answers you are looking for. Hope this helps!

http://www.payroll-taxes.com/articles/beloPlans.html

 

[Gepetto]

Thanks for the reply and web link; that is indeed one of the most thorough explanations of the Belo criteria we've seen.

The troubling part for my peers and I, is that the Belo conditions only addresses the issue of hours worked in a weekly fashion, with no regard to the total cumulative hours worked on an annual basis which should for us be targeted at a goal of 2080 hours per year.

So our question still remains, not so much in the legality of Belo or if our schedules qualify us for being paid by this method, as that is not being contested. But more to the latter point(s) of the original post, is if our company's execution of this plan is fair and just to its employees.

More specifically:
Do we need to add our own language into the conditions already spelled out to set a maximum number of hours annually if we wish to have ALL hours more than 2080 per year be paid for at time and a half?

Are there any known documented cases of companies applying their own amendments to the minimum conditions already set forth by Belo?

Thanks again for your help and assistance.

 

[presutin]

I would sit down with a labor/employment attorney in your area to see what are the options you and your coworkers have to verify if you company is in compliance with the plan and if you can add the language you would like to see that will cover the issues that you have raised. Hope this helps and good luck to you!