Longer week means OT for hourly employees
Q: I am an hourly employee, and I was forced to miss about eight hours of work due to the recent storms and flooding in the Houston area. My company had us make up the hours the following week, which put each of us at 48 hours for that next week. Does the company have to pay us overtime?
A: Yes, they must pay you time-and-a-half for the eight hours of overtime work.
As an hourly, non-exempt employee (almost all hourly employees are nonexempt, and that means the overtime laws do apply to you), then your right to overtime pay when you work over 40 hours in a workweek is not waivable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The FLSA requires overtime pay if an employee works more than 40 hours during a single workweek. Even if an employee voluntarily and knowingly agrees to work over 40 hours, that employee still must be paid for the overtime work.
The law is intended to protect workers’ rights and avoid situations where employers could coerce this type of agreement from its employees.
Because your company required you and other co-workers to work eight extra hours that put you over 40 during the following workweek, they must pay each of you time-and-a-half for those extra eight hours.
Q: My husband and I have a revocable trust and would like to change the successor trustee. I know you can change a will with a codicil. Is there a form or an easy way to change the successor trustee without going through an attorney?
A: There is no standard form
for what you want to do.
If you were to hire an attorney to prepare it for you, that attorney would essentially start from scratch to prepare the form. Typically, there would be some recitations at the beginning describing the trust, the two of you, the date you established the trust, and the previous dates when you modified it before this new change.
There would also usually be a reference to the portions of the trust agreement that allow you and your husband to make changes to the document.
Then the form would recite the change itself. Usually, the document would rewrite an entire section or paragraph in its entirety.
The form would need to be signed and dated by you and your husband and the trustee or co-trustees (which might be the two of you) and notarized as well.
You could try to make the change yourself, if you wish. But keep in mind, if you are changing the successor trustee on your trust, you will probably need to change the successor executor in your wills, and the successor agents in your durable powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney and HIPAA releases.
The information in this column is intended to provide a general understanding of the law, not legal advice. Readers with legal problems, including those whose questions are addressed here, should consult attorneys for advice on their particular circumstances. Ronald Lipman of the Houston law firm Lipman & Associates is board-certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Email questions to stateyourcase@ lipmanpc.com.