Human Resource Blog

Overtime on salary, being let go

	Compensation
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Hi, I am on salary but my job requires overtime. I have never been paid overtime but my employer excepts me to work. Six months ago he was going to sell the co & I worked more than 120 hrs OT & did not get paid. Plus not one salaried employee has any record of the hours worked. Plus I do have a slight disability (ADD) which does hinder my job. Been with this co for 5 yrs. I have requested for over 2 yrs for my office not be a break area (5 or 6 desks) but the owner does nothing about it. It is very loud most of the time. So at any given time there could be 6 or 7 people in there talking playing music, playing musical instruments. ETC. He just always says I am b—ing about it. I am the bookkeeper dealing with figures all the time. Now he is thinking of laying off 6 people and hiring others at lower salaries. The girl that would replace me doesn’t have the requirements for this job. but the owner says he needs to cut back. Plus my age now is 60. I do think he is discriminating against me. A month or so ago I was the best employee he ever had and now he wants to replace me. Is this illegal?

Nothing you have mentioned sounds like illegal discrimination. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA, employers  have to make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers. However, the EEOC guidelines for “disability” are pretty severe. Your ADA probably does not qualify under the law, unless ir prevents you from carrying out normal daily activities like taking a bath, grocery shopping or using a phone book. So that’s not an issue.

Administrative employees including bookkeepers who earn more than $455 per week are often exempt from overtime. For a specific ruling on whether or not you are entitled to overtime, you should contact the US Department of Labor.

Employers are perfectly free to fire their staff and replace them with workers who earn less. It may very well be that the business will suffer as a result, but that’s the owner’s concern, not the EEOC’s. If the employer was talking of firing you specifically because of your age, and hiring a younger worker at the same salary to do the same work, that would be illegal discrimination. However, in this case, the employer has a legitimate reason to lay off the higher-paid workers. He needs to save money, and hiring less experienced workers is one way to do that.  The employer should keep an accurate record of hours worked by each employee. As a bookkeeper, it might be wise for you to suggest it. It would be interesting to know what type of company it is, that people play musical instruments at work.