Does your workplace offer....

[Arielle22]

However, it is clear that not doing the work assigned (even if that means working more than 40 hours, i.e., working during times outside or normal business hours) is sound justification for termination of employment, so generally folks prefer to go along with whatever docking of pay that they're subjected to rather than get fired for cause.

I am going to go back and change my post. What it should have read is that the law is silent on using paid time off on days when you leave early even if you have worked more than 40 hours that week.

You are correct that failure to work required hours would be grounds for termiation. If an employee finds themselves being illegally docked they can file a complaint with the state or federal dept of labor while continuing to work.

 

[bookgirl]

We are not allowed comp days, you either take overtime (which they frown apon and must be approved prior to taking) or you have to adjust you time on a day within the same work week.

They're pretty strict on the rules about this. Failure to comply with the proceedure can be used on your evaluation. They'll pay you your overtime, but it'll hurt your chances for merit pay.

The system got burned by a manager who was letting employees acrue comp time, but when the employee got mad at the manager, she came back and filed a complaint claiming she had been required to work overtime but not paid. The state while recognizing that some employers use comp time (themselves included) said if the employee worked over time they must be paid overtime, they will side with the employee, no matter what the verbal agreement was. The law trumps company policy everytime.

ETA: Only managers are salary. Everyone else is hourly.

 

[GeorgeG]

Before I retired, I was a non-exempt salaried employee, which meant I got paid overtime for extra hours worked... sort of. My pay grade was actually in the exempt level, but the job required so much overtime that we were given non-exempt status by the president of the company... sort of. That was an option the company liked long-term because overtime did not count toward our pension calculations as a higher base salary would.

We were expected to give one to two hours a day over the basic eight hours as "incidental" overtime that was necessary in the everyday preparation for the day. Exempt or non-exempt, is was still a 24/7 availability via pagers and cell phones (one of the reasons my cell phone is off and serving as a paperweight now that I'm retired).

Comp time could also be used by any management employee, not as company policy, but through an informal agreement with the person you reported to. Of course, that varied depending on who you worked for and how happy they were with your work. The company policy towards comp time was an official "no," allowing for some individual discretions. Too many people were saving comp time to use towards an early out when it came time to retire. I did get six weeks of vacation every year so I was happy just to "vacation out."

 

[pixiewings71]

I'm salaried, I work M-F from 8-5 and yes, if I work a weekend I get a comp day in exchange. DBF is the same, only he works M-F from 10-7.

 

[Argent]

Depending on the state you live in there are labor laws that address comp time. In some states it is illegal to force an employee to take comp time for time worked over 40 hr. unless specified in a collective bargaining agreement.

 

[Kit'smommy]

I have always worked in accounting, both public and industry. Often it takes me far over 40 hours a week to get my job done due to audits, SEC deadlines, etc. I have always been an exempt employee and have worked many nights and weekends without comp time. It is just the way the jobs work in my field and I have always been fairly compensated for the fluctuations in my schedule.

However, every employer I have had to date has been very flexible about during what hours the work had to be completed. Some weeks I work 50+ hours and sometimes I leave early a couple days a week without taking PTO or I work from home. As long as the job gets done, my bosses have been happy.