I'll try and sum this up without stripping too much info. Last year (Around April 2013 I believe), I started working for a souvenir shop owned by 3 brothers and their friend. They have 4 stores located in Pigeon Forge, TN, and I spent time working at all of them. I worked for them from April 2013 to August 2013 (I moved to NC), then started working for them again when I moved back in April 2014 until September 2013. There was no given title, and I wasn't considered "full-time" and definitely wasn't payed salary. I have all my paychecks from when I first began to now. Payed weekly. I worked 5.5 days out of the week; 80 hours per week; 15 hours per day (9a to 12a); and the half day. They told me I could work 80 per week paid, and anything over 80 is "vacation time." There is no paper contracts or anything I had to sign except for the usual tax forms and whatnot.
When I first started working, I didn't ask about OT as I figured I was allowed to work as much as I wanted, and that's the way they viewed it. The last month I was there, I asked my manager (Not one of the owners), if he had asked about OT. Apparently there were a few others who asked about it, and they were all blown off, except for my manager. He said they paid him OT at first, and then just started paying him under the table instead. Also, mind you, a lot of the employees are students from other countries, working over 40 hours as well, so they have no idea of any labor laws. Basically, I was exhausted from working so much and decided to leave them, after a good solid 11 months collectively.
At this point, in retrospect, I wish I hadn't waited so long to say anything, but I put a lot of time and work and given up a lot of opportunities working that much with no overtime or compensation. From my research, I read there are no TN labor laws but federal labor laws still apply. If I could get a little more info on this subject and whether or not I can/should take any action, I would greatly appreciate it!
When I first started working, I didn't ask about OT as I figured I was allowed to work as much as I wanted, and that's the way they viewed it. The last month I was there, I asked my manager (Not one of the owners), if he had asked about OT. Apparently there were a few others who asked about it, and they were all blown off, except for my manager. He said they paid him OT at first, and then just started paying him under the table instead. Also, mind you, a lot of the employees are students from other countries, working over 40 hours as well, so they have no idea of any labor laws. Basically, I was exhausted from working so much and decided to leave them, after a good solid 11 months collectively.
At this point, in retrospect, I wish I hadn't waited so long to say anything, but I put a lot of time and work and given up a lot of opportunities working that much with no overtime or compensation. From my research, I read there are no TN labor laws but federal labor laws still apply. If I could get a little more info on this subject and whether or not I can/should take any action, I would greatly appreciate it!
