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.
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.
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