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My employer has three overtime rates: 10%, 33%, and 100% Rarely do you ever get 100% some of our company organizations get all overtime at 100% Others are limited to rare if any. My College Labor Relation Class says by AL law there is only 2 kinds of overtime in Alabama - time and a half and double time. What does the real AL law say and could you include a copy of that law reference? Thank you!

Submitted: 395 days and 7 hours ago.

Category: Employment Law

Value: $15

Status: CLOSED

Huntsville, Alabama

Already Tried:
Looked for a good law team smart in labor and eeo laws.

Posted by N Cal Attorney 395 days and 6 hours ago.

Answer

According to http://www.alalabor.state.al.us/FAQ.htm#What%20is%20the%20minimum%20wage%20in%20Alabama

Who handles the Wage & Hour Laws?
The State of Alabama Department of Labor does not have any wage and hour laws other than the law pertaining to the payment of wages. Section 25-3-4 states that the department will investigate and attempt to collect on wage claims. This office attempts to collect wages for employees who have worked and have not received their pay. With regard to other wage & hour laws such as overtime, minimum wage and salaried/hourly contact the U. S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration at their website “www.dol.gov/esa”

Title 25 of the Alabama Code covers Labor law, it is available at http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeofAlabama/1975/coatoc.htm

The federal Department of Labor states:
An employer who requires or permits an employee to work overtime is generally required to pay the employee premium pay for such overtime work. Employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek of at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime hours are worked on such days.

Extra pay for working weekends or nights is a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee (or the employee's representative). The FLSA does not require extra pay for weekend or night work or double time pay. From http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/overtimepay.htm

http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/011.htm states:
For covered, nonexempt employees, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times an employee's regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek. Some exceptions to the 40 hours per week standard apply under special circumstances to police officers and firefighters employed by public agencies and to employees of hospitals and nursing homes.

Fact Sheet 14 at http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs14.htm explains which employees are covered by the FLSA.

I hope this information is helpful.

392 days and 19 hours ago.

Reply

I am not a judge or even a lawyer, but my interpretation is below. Is it legally logical and solid?
My employer (business or organization) does over $500,000 worth of business a year. Therefore, he is subject to FLSA which says he must pay at least time and a half for overtime at night and weekends. Consequentally, if he does not pay this amount but rather 10% of the base rate (not even the minimum wage) he is in violaton of Federal law specificially FLSA. Is that your interpretation and opinion as well?

Accepted Answer

Any hours over 40 per week must be paid at time and a half.

http://www.flsa.com/overtime.html states:

"Overtime" and "FLSA overtime."

Under the FLSA, "overtime" means "time actually worked beyond a prescribed threshold." The normal FLSA "work period" is the "work week" -- 7 consecutive days -- and the normal FLSA overtime threshold is 40 hours per work week. Some jobs may be governed by a different FLSA overtime threshold. These will be addressed specifically, below. For present purposes, the discussion will assume employees are regular "40 hour per week" employees.

Time actually worked over 40 hours in a work week is "FLSA overtime." Note that some jobs may use the word "overtime" differently, as for example to describe "time worked outside of the employee's normal schedule" or "time worked over 8 hours in a day." An employer may pay employees on any basis it wishes, provided only that actual pay does not fall below the minimum standards required by the FLSA. It is, therefore, permissible for an employer to use the word "overtime" to mean something different from the definition of "overtime" in the FLSA. That, however, does not change the meaning of the word overtime for FLSA purposes, and it is important to restrict the meaning of "overtime" to its statutory definition in determining the FLSA rights of employees. "Time worked outside of normal schedule" may not be the same as "time worked over 40 hours in a work week." Only the latter is "overtime" under the FLSA, and the FLSA governs only pay due for "FLSA overtime" worked.

Thus, under the FLSA overtime rules, "nothing happens" unless and until a nonexempt employee has actually worked more than 40 hours in a work week. Stated another way, if an employee's total hours actually worked in a work week are not more than 40, the FLSA overtime rules are not triggered at all. No FLSA overtime pay is due. If, and only if, total hours actually worked exceed 40 in a work week, then the FLSA overtime rules may come into play.

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Expert:	N Cal Attorney
Pos. Feedback:	98.9 %
Answered:	10/26/2008

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