Can Companies Force Employees to Work Overtime?

With the economy and layoffs many companies are asking employees to pick up slack. Can an employer require an employee to work overtime?

You have plans for Friday evening. You've been thinking about it all week. In fact, the steaks are marinating in the fridge, and you have plans for guests to be at your house two hours after quitting time. As the work day winds down, 4:45 comes along, and the boss pops his head in the door and says, "We're pulling a late one tonight."

Can he do that? What if you can't stay? Can you be fired or reprimanded for not working overtime? My daughter currently works for a large retail sales company and faced this very situation. She had plans one night and they had been made long in advance, where tickets were purchased and everything, only to be told she would be written up if she did not work overtime!

Can they do that? Better call your friends and call off the dinner party and put the steaks up for another night because, yes, employers can require employees to work overtime. Depending on your job classification, you might not even be eligible to receive payment for the overtime either.

That's right. In some states, some job classifications can be required to work overtime without getting any additional compensation for doing so.

According to the US Department of Labor's Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), for a covered nonexempt employee: "Overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek."

A nonexempt employee is defined as any employee whose salary is determined by an hourly wage. While there are some hourly paid employees who are not eligible for overtime pay (See this link to find out which jobs/skilled positions are not eligible for overtime pay), the majority of people paid an hourly wage will receive overtime for anything more than 40 hours in a work week.

There are alternatives to overtime that are acceptable in lieu of overtime wages paid. For example, I once worked for a nonprofit grant-funded organization that paid 'comp time'. Compensation time was accrued at 1 1/2 times the regular hourly wage for all employees who worked overtime. At a future date, the employee could take the time off without a loss of pay (used like vacation time).

Comp time is not legal in all states, while some states allow it for nonprofit organizations but not for-profit companies.

So does that mean an exempt employee doesn't have to work overtime?

No, it doesn't. What that means is that an exempt employee can be made to work overtime, and they won't get paid extra for it!

Exempt employees are paid a monthly wage that is divided up into pay periods, but it is assumed that a salaried employee will work until the job is done for the set salary agreed upon. Therefore, if you are an exempt, salaried employee, you should definitely ask for what you're worth during the higher process, and if there are layoffs requiring you to take on more work, you might want to consider asking for a raise.

Whether you are exempt or nonexempt, it's important to know your rights as an employee. When it comes to overtime, yes, an employer can most definitely terminate you for refusing to work overtime provided the employer properly pays you for that overtime.