Lawsuits surge as more workers demand payment for overtime hours

AP ^ | 8-02-02 | AP

[mikenola]

NEW YORK (AP) -- There were years, Omar Belazi says, when he willingly logged 65-hour weeks, stayed late to vacuum the store's floor and clean the bathroom, and surrendered his Sundays to hit sales targets.

But a decade later he grew tired of waiting for the payback.

[Who dat?]

"How can you tell me I'm a salaried employee if I have to sign a timesheet?" said Kevin Soileau of Florien, La., one of the pharmacists who sued.

I always thought that to qualify as an exempt employee you had to have the authority to hire, fire, promote, schedule, train, assign and direct the tasks of others, etc.. Doing those things also had to take some large percentage of your time, like 70% or something.

I also thought Radio Shack was a franchise-type deal where the stores were independently owned. I guess not.

[Mr. Bird]

I always thought that to qualify as an exempt employee you had to have the authority to hire, fire, promote, schedule, train, assign and direct the tasks of others, etc.

Not necessarily, though if one does those things they are likely to be exempt. According to federal wage and hour laws, the Exempt vs. Non-exempt question often hinges on what the core function of the business is, and the relation of the job to that function. Essentially, if the job requires the exercise of independent judgement with respect to the core business operation, it can be exempt. What IS clear, is that the FLSA needs to be clarified further.

[Shermy]

In the eyes of the employer, to be exempt is merely to be called "manager." One ploy, give those kids sweeping theater floors a badge that says "asst. manager" and tell them how important they are. Then don't give them overtime.

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[Born to Conserve]

What a bunch of idiots.

Take your annual salary and divide it by the number of hours worked, then look at the number. If you don't like it, go get another job.

They knew what they were getting paid, and they knew how many hours they were working. They are morons.

[kerberos3]

I used to work at RadioShack right when Len Roberts took over as president. I can tell you that if you work in a company owned store, they own you. It is a typical retail store which is there to make money; not to make employees happy. I was able to learn a lot of life lessons, make contacts and finally leave that place for a much better job. In the past ten years, the competence of the RS staff has gone downhill. One reason is they moved off of commission based sales to minimum wage with some bonuses. The people that work there now can be likened to fast food employees.

One of my favorite things they would do during the holiday season was to cut your commission rate since there would be more sales and they didn't want you to make too mcuh. This would keep your earnings in step with the rest of the year although it was a lot more busy. Merry Christmas !!!!

[sawsalimb]

One reason that I stopped doing "magerial" work a long time ago was over this issue. Somehow,all of my Saturdays got spent doing the administrative chores,or playing catchup,or all the other odds and ends that didn't get done during the week. And,yes,this was at the behest of the company owner,who kindly informed me that if I didn't like the way he ran his business,or what his pay scales were,I could find another job. So I did,lol.

[sawsalimb]

oops. "Managerial" work. My proofeading skills have gone way downhill.

[MinuteGal]

You hit the proverbial nail. My Radio Shack is manned (?) by two airhead young ladies, barely out of their teens. They can't answer any technical or electronic-type questions beyond the mundane at all. One hardly speaks English. They chatter somehow with each other at the back of the store till one happens to come to and notices a customer who's been waiting for assistance.

I went to another Radio Shack in a Chicago suburb where there were two clerks. One of the two was a man dressed in full female clothing, low heels, reddish-blond curly wig and garish makeup and jewelry. I kid you not!

My sister was waiting for me in the car and I told her "Ya gotta see this, let's go back into the store!". The he/she/it saved us the trouble by going outside for a smoke. My sister about had a stroke as did passers-by.

I can name the store location, but won't do it on the web!

Leni

[chaosagent]

I was an "Asst. Manager" at a Radio Shack in the late '60's when I was in college.

It's nice to see they haven't changed. (NOT)

[TheEngineer]

Bump, BTC... I faced the same situation at McDonnell Douglas in the early 90's. Their new management had all kinds of brilliant new ideas to cap overtime pay (but not overtime hours). Seems many hardworking young engineers were earning more money than many middle-management types who cut out every day at 3:30. Had to put a stop to that. Their CEO, John Capellupo, became known as "Salary-Cap Ellupo". Many high performers were being pushed to the limits of what was humanly possible. But the people who worked 8.000 hours per day, though, didn't seem to mind the new rules/regs. Eventually, I and many others became disillusioned and left. I started my own business. At least all the extra hours are now compensated. :-) Looking back, though, I have no legal gripe. (Even if some ambulance chaser thinks that I do.)

The free market corrects itself. No one makes an employee stay and work unpaid overtime. If they don't like it, then they should quit and find a new job. I particularly don't like the idea that these lawsuits look back many years. I agree with you. These people are complete morons.

[razorback-bert]

When I was in the electronics business, I used hire RS managers as salesman and they were shocked to find they made more from us as salesman with fewer hours.

There is a lot of bullying teens to work "of the clock" in mall stores, I was told this by the kids, who said don't tell my parents or I will get fired.

[sarasmom]

"The free market corrects itself. No one makes an employee stay and work unpaid overtime."

Of cource not!They can quit at any time and the company has at least 200 illegal aliens from 100 different countries to happily and fraudulantly replace them! Only employees are required to follow the rules. Of cource, while they fight about equitable pay, the whole company degrades perceived value to customers.

It does not matter that " labor laws" exist.

I detest the large Unions which have mutated and subverted their original purposes.But in all fairness, I can not wholeheartedly advocate their complete destruction with the level of labor law abuses that routinely occur.

Union abuse is evident.Corporate abuse is equally evident.Law abiding employers, and employees who work for a living are caught in between.

Company loyalty is a two way street.Screw the employee,the company dies.Screw the employer, the company dies.Eventually, no one makes a living.Except, of cource, the lawyers.

[TheEngineer]

They can quit at any time and the company has at least 200 illegal aliens from 100 different countries to happily and fraudulantly replace them!

If these employees quit, and they were replaced by illegal aliens... then I would support their lawsuit. But I haven't observed that to be the case. I sometimes shop at radio shacks, and have yet to see illegal aliens working there. Sun Microsystems just had a big layoff, and a group of laid-off workers are suing the company with the charge that H-1B visa workers were not laid off (because they are paid less, on the whole). I support this lawsuit. If the radio shack managers decided to stick to a strict 8.000 hours per day, and they were fired for this... then I would support a lawsuit. But this long-after-the-fact sour grapes is BS. And I don't think it is so hard to find a job in this country.

Only employees are required to follow the rules.

Business owners have a lot more rules to worry about that employees.

Unions... I am not anti-union, either. Perhaps the radio shack managers should have considered starting/joining a union. This route is not as easy as hiring a lawyer, but certainly much more respectable.

Company loyalty is a two way street.Screw the employee,the company dies.Screw the employer, the company dies.Eventually, no one makes a living.Except, of cource, the lawyers.

We agree here. This is what I meant, though, by the market correcting itself. In a company where a lot of "screwing" is going on, the company is going to die. I agree completely. I suggest that anyone who works in such a situation "abandon the sinking ship", and find a new job.

[FITZ]

One reason that I stopped doing "magerial" work a long time ago was over this issue.

Certain big hospital chains were doing this ---they found it very profitable to send home the front line workers and tell managers they had to do all the work and if it took them 70 hours a week, working 10 hour days every day of the week, they expected them to do that. I left but if people think patient care isn't affected by these type of things, they should hope they never become a patient. The other type of abuse is to whittle the work force down to a minimum and demand employees carry beepers so they can be called in at any time of the day or night. This isn't being done just in certain times, it's a way they do business now.

[verity]

Beware of trial lawyers.

[42ndSPS1975]

Let me see if I understand your bottom line. Any employer should be able to set any pay scale or employment practice he wishes and the government should stay out of it. There should not be a national standard of employment laws that apply to every employer; only those employers that want to meet the standard should do so. Kaos should rule??

On the surface Born to Conserve believes good jobs with moral leadership are the norm in this country, which I have found is not true in my 30 years working in America.

Do you believe that employers should be able to let their employment practices bring our working class standard of living to be equal with Mexico, China, Russia or any other struggling nation so that American business owners can maximize their return on their invested dollar at the expense of America?

Remember that as taxable income drops there is less money being generated into the federal tax coffers hence the fewer large income producers will be required to pay for their privileges themselves, or find a friendlier taxing country with America's freedoms and military muscle. (good luck)

Sounds like we are headed back into slavery. I keep hearing business owners want a Wal-Mart style employer-employee relationship.

The state picks up the costs of hospitalization because employers cannot afford to pay for luxuries like hospitalization, retirement plans, full time employees, dental plans for employees kids, disability insurance premiums for employees injured on the job or paying local and federal taxes because they are hiring "minority/disadvantaged employees"(federal/state subsidy) so you and I are paying our taxes to help pay for their unfair business practices that enable them a advantage over their competition, our neighbors and our community.

I agree with you, only an idiot would allow themselves to work for a morally bankrupted employer, but not everyone has the education or training to be a Born to Conserve and besides we are only talking about peoples lives. Nothing important eh....