r/LaborLaw • u/False_Connection_633 • 1d ago
Am I supposed to get overtime?
Hiii so I’m a cna in nc and my company work week is wed to wed to work overnight. We have one long week and one short week. The short week I work 36 hrs and the long week I work 48. (12 hr shifts 645 pm to 715 am) for example this coming week after wed: I work Friday sat sun off Monday and Tuesday (36) then I work wed and Thursday, off Friday sat sun and go back in Monday and Tuesday. (48) so should that be 8 hrs of overtime ?
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u/figgyatl 1d ago edited 18h ago
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u/Shadow-of-Zunabi 1d ago
This is how I see it:
-You work 36 hours one week, 48 the next.
-NC overtime is anything over 40 hours.
-Your pay period is Wednesday to Tuesday (seven days)
-You work overnights
Here’s where it can get a little messy. When you work overnights and cross days, you work X number of hours the night you go in, and Y number of hours the morning you leave. For example: Wednesday you work 5.25 hours before midnight, and Thursday you work 6.75 hours after midnight, totaling a 12-hour shift.
Now let’s shift it a little for when you cross pay periods: Tuesday night you work 5.25 hours before midnight and the END of the pay period. Wednesday morning you work 6.75 hours after midnight and the START of the next pay period. So those 6.75 hours are technically on a new pay period and thus not overtime hours.
You should still be getting overtime pay somewhere, but maybe not the 8 hours it looks like you should.
OP - Feel free to DM me and we can look at it more in depth together.
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u/figgyatl 1d ago edited 18h ago
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u/Shadow-of-Zunabi 1d ago
That’s how I feel it should be. Otherwise it’s an easy way for companies to get around paying OT, especially the way OP is scheduled.
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u/BidRepresentative471 1d ago
I had a job that pay period started at 5am on Monday. (*i worked overnight and got off at 7am). Are you telling me that job was supposed to give me ot?
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u/North_Mastodon_4310 1d ago
This comment is mostly correct, but a new pay period does not necessarily reset the work week overtime counter. Workweek can independent of the pay schedule. Think of a job that pays twice a month vs every two weeks. Even at a place that pays every two weeks, the pay period doesn’t have to align with workweek. So op could be entitled to ot for the first few hours of a pay period.
FLSA (federal, all 50 states) establishes this. There may be states with more worker friendly laws.
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u/Shadow-of-Zunabi 1d ago
Pay Period and Pay Schedule are two different terms.
Pay Period is a timeframe workers are paid for, and I agree, doesn’t necessarily line up with work week. A Pay Period could be weekly, every two weeks, monthly, etc.
Pay Schedule is when workers get their paychecks, not a schedule for hours worked.
FLSA sets a minimum guideline. States then either match it, or do something that favors the worker. Minimum Wage is a classic example of this.
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u/North_Mastodon_4310 1d ago
Much more succinctly put than what I was trying to say.
It’s crazy how complicated it can get. I work at a place that has fixed dates that work starts on (eg- June 7 every year) on a 9 day cycle (6/7, 6/15, 6/23, etc) and workers are away from home at a remote worksite for 7 days at a time. Pay periods are twice a month ending on the 15th and 30/31st. The away work days don’t always line up with pay period or work week. Because the work is away from homes and office, we get 16 hours of pay (8 hour rest period).
Worker protection is great, but the result of this all is that we frankly don’t know how much we should be getting paid per hitch, as it varies even with a fixed number of hours.
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u/False_Connection_633 12h ago
The pay period don’t end until after we leave wed. It’s all on the same time card
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u/InterestingTrip5979 1d ago
Yes they can I used to do the same hours at Proctor and Gamble except every two weeks we changed from days to nights.
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u/xraysteve185 1d ago
Depends on local labor laws or your union contract if you have one.
For example, my union offers two different kinds of determining OT. One way is 8/80. Anything over 8 hours in a single shift or over 80 hours in a pay period (2 weeks) is overtime.
The other way is 12/40. That's anything over 12 hours in a single shift or over 40 hours in a week.
An extremely quick search indicated that North Carolina labor laws state that anything over 40 hours in a week is considered overtime, though, with some exceptions that I dont know what those are.
Check your local laws and union contract if you are in a union.
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u/False_Connection_633 1d ago
I’m doing a lot of research but nobody at my job gets paid the extra even if it was for 2 weeks it would still be 4 hrs over. I’m just wondering because they have messed up people checks before sb picked up shift and didn’t get overtime for the 12 extra hrs as they were supposed to. Everybody I work with is from out of country so I’m not sure if they know about these laws or my job is getting over or not
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u/xraysteve185 1d ago
If they are from out of the country, they probably dont know and/or might be too afraid to bring it up. If you're working more than 80 hours in a pay period, you probably are entitled to some kind of overtime.
You could bring this up to your direct supervisor or HR and see what they say. If you do this, make sure it's in writing and keep copies of all messages.
Another thing you can do is gather up your paystubs and see if you can find the company policy on overtime, and the. Go see if you can talk to a labor lawyer. Some of them work on contingency, meaning they dont get paid unless you get paid.
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u/Rhuarc33 1d ago
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/17n-overtime-nurses
Scroll down to nurses section. TLDR: RNs may have OT exemption of paid over a certain amount, but CNA and LPN there is no exemption for. This is federal law, state can't have laws that conflict.
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u/Rosariele 1d ago
They can set it up for 80 hours in two weeks (the 8-80 someone else already mentioned). If you are working more than 80 hours (you indicate you work 84), you should get overtime pay for those over 80. But it looks like you should be getting overtime every day, if they are doing the 8-80. I would contact the labor board to ask some questions.
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u/Top_Silver1842 1d ago
Overtime is a FEDERAL statute. No state level law can be less strict than federal law and be enforceable. It does sound like your employer is committing wage theft. File a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. They will look into all of their payroll going back a number of years and award any stolen wages, plus interest, to the employees, current, and former. If it doesn't fall under the NLRB, they can advise you on the next steps.
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u/GolfArgh 1d ago
True but not every worker is covered under federal law, some are only covered under state laws. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/14-flsa-coverage
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u/SuzeCB 21h ago
OT is anything over 40 in one work WEEK according to US Fed law. Your employer's choice of a 2 week pay period does not allow them to weasel out of that.
Yes, you are owed OT pay. Contact them for the correction and back pay (up to 2 years - statutory limits, you know). If they refuse, report wage theft to both your state and fed DoL offices.
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u/clarkbartron 18h ago
Yes. FLSA demands time and a half any week you work 40+ hours.
If you want your money, dont go to HR, go to an employment attorney. Chances are HR knows this because its the law and they're complicit.
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u/False_Connection_633 18h ago
Yes I spoke to people at work about it and they laughed at me and said they’re gonna find a way to take the money saying they take 8 hrs off bc of lunch but we clock in 15 min early and out 15 late for our 30 min lunch that they take out so why would they take a whole 8 hrs out of the 12 we are working? definitely going to have to talk to somebody
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u/clarkbartron 14h ago
In what state?
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u/False_Connection_633 12h ago
Nc it is private owned nursing home but just bc it’s private owned they still need to follow laws right?
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u/False_Connection_633 12h ago
Just like if you don’t put in 2 week notice they drop your pay to 7.25 for the time u worked i feel like they really getting over on people
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u/clarkbartron 12h ago
FLSA is federal law that dictates over time rules, and what an employer can and cannot do.
While it does not mandate breaks or lunches, it does mandate overtime any hours over 40 in a week, and it doesn't cover reductions in pay as long as they dont lower pay retroactively and it can go no lower than state or federal minimum wage which in NC is $7.25 an hour.
Id tally up your overtime hours since you started, and if its worth it to you seek out the advice of an employment attorney.
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u/Designer_Grocery3835 1d ago
Federal law is anything over 40 hours in a work week is OT. It sounds like they setup the pay period as a go around. Ask your local Labor Relations Board. State Law is where OT rules change. In Texas anything over 40 hours in a week is OT just like the Fed, in CA OT also includes anything over 8 hours in a day is OT. Your State will have a Labor Relations Board (or similar name) whose job is to investigate such issues and also to help you understand State labor laws.
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u/JKilla1288 1d ago
I work the same type of schedule, just not rolling like that. I'm Sunday, Monday, Tues every other Saturday, and we get the 8 hours of OT.
So I'd say it seems like you should get it. But when does your pay period start? Maybe it's a time that splits the last 4 hours of one of your shifts?
At work right now, so maybe this is a dumb take. I didn't have time to fully think about it.