moving hours and unpaid overtime

Michael Swann

New Member
Jurisdiction
Maryland
W TH F SA SU M TU (wk1) W TH F SA SU M TU (wk2)
12 12 12 12 12 12 12

So referencing the above table. I get paid bi-weekly working 12 hour shifts. so first week is 48 hours and second week is 36 hours. company has full benefit package which both parties put money in for.
the company takes 4 hours from wk 1 and adds it to wk 2. then pays me 4 hours o/t on wk 1. this has been going on for a long time. discussions with company officials about this practice have yielded answers ranging from it has to be done because of how they pay benefits, to it would be illegal to not do it this way. there has been other issues that came up and human resource managers from other companies have said what they are doing is not legal. I am wanting to know if this is a legal practice. before i put my job at risk by going head to head with them over this.
 
On the face of it, it does appear that they owe you 4 hours for every 48 hour work week that you worked and that moving the 4 hours to the second week is illegal.

Overtime Pay | U.S. Department of Labor

Depending on how long this has been going on they may owe you a lot more money than your job is worth.

I suggest you run this by the US DOL or the MD DOL, quietly, to see if your particular situation qualifies for a complaint. I don't know how far back the authorities can hit the company up for back pay. Find out when you call. Might be worth it to file an official complaint. That's up to you.

I wouldn't be confronting the employer about it, let the authorities settle their hash with an audit of everybody's payroll.
 
I agree with AdjusterJack on both points.

1. They are shorting you 4 hours of OT each week.
2. Let MD DOL or US DOL deal with it.
 
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