I am an hourly paid employee for a textile related business. In 2005 when things were slow in this industry, and after company downsizing, we were given a waiver to sign. This waiver basically states that during slow times, any hours worked over 40 per week would be comp time.(straight pay or time off). It also says that this time cannot be rolled over to 2006. We were given the option to disagee, but in fear of losing our jobs, all employees signed that they agreed. We recently had a surge of work and have been requested to work overtime. Lots of overtime. When I first started working for this company, we worked overtme with overtime pay, but even our new company handbook refers to overtime as comp time. Only the blue collar people are required to do this.
Is this legal?

Nope. The FLSA prohibits a private employer (i.e., nongovernmental) from accruing comp time in lieu of paying overtime. Of course, that also means that the employer is not required to pay you for anything except the time you actually work (for example, in the short weeks), although they may allow you, at their discretion, to utilize any vacation time you may have available.

You can file a claim for the unpaid overtime with the state Dept. of Labor. If you are fired for such reporting, you would also likely have a case for wrongful termination.

Good luck.

Can a complaint only be filed by an employee?

Well, you can report a violation to the DOL, but you can't get any compensation due you by law unless they know who you are. Honestly, the DOLs are so innundated with claims that they will be working a claim from an affected employee before they will work general complaints from a nonaffected employee.

I would like to be compensated for my overtime, but what I really want is the company I work for to be aware of these laws, and for OT for straight time to stop. I believe as long as we(the employees) continue to work these hours, they will continue to demand it. They have the attitude that we should be so grateful to have work at all. By the way, this is a small family owned business.

Thanks

Now that you've mentioned this is a "small, family-owned business, it's possible that they are not subject to the FLSA. Do they have any out-of-state commerce?