Worker’s status determines overtime pay

My husband works as a supervisor for a local utility on Long Island. For years, whenever he had to attend a staff meeting, he would go in to work early or stay late and get paid to attend the meetings. He was paid straight time. His new manager, in an effort to stop paying the supervisors, has made the meetings mandatory and requires supervisors to attend or call in on their own time — even on their days off. Is this policy legal or has this manager gone beyond her authority? Whether your husband has to be paid for attending the meetings depends on his status. If he is an hourly worker, in other words nonexempt, he must be paid for all the time he works and that includes meetings. The only exceptions to the rule are gatherings that meet all four of these criteria outlined in a U.S. Labor Department fact sheet on the topic: They are held outside of normal hours; they are voluntary; they are unrelated to the job: and company tasks aren’t performed.

Clearly the meetings your husband has to attend aren’t voluntary. So if he is hourly, he has to be paid for that time and must be paid overtime if the extra hours mean he works more than 40 hours a week.

On the other hand, if he is a manager, he wouldn’t have to be paid for any extra time.

So your husband needs to clarify his status. And for that he should call the U.S. Labor Department at 866-487-2365 for more information.