I work at a manufacturing company where I must produce a number of units within a day. The days flux without notice 9 hour here 8 here 11 here and so on. But now I am not allowed to leave work until my units are met. Can they do that; hold me for as long as it takes to do the job? Not posting a time off or telling me when I’ll be able to go home for the day. And is there a standard number of hours my employer has to tell me before working on my day off making it mandatory? I get told on Thursday some times Friday that I’m going to have to work a Saturday and that its mandatory. We all want to know where I work if this is right. Thanks for your time.

I work at a manufacturing company where I must produce a number of units within a day. The days flux without notice 9 hour here 8 here 11 here and so on. But now I am not allowed to leave work until my units are met. Can they do that; hold me for as long as it takes to do the job? Not posting a time off or telling me when I’ll be able to go home for the day. And is there a standard number of hours my employer has to tell me before working on my day off making it mandatory? I get told on Thursday some times Friday that I’m going to have to work a Saturday and that its mandatory. We all want to know where I work if this is right. Thanks for your time.
I don't see anything that sounds illegal. Not fair maybe,but no laws being broken. Your employer could ask you to work as long as they want,as long as they pay you for your overtime,and give you the breaks the law provides. There will be another senior member who will come along with more specifics on the law here. Sorry you guys have to go through this!

turbowray has it right. Unless there is a contract.

They can request that you stay there are long as they like and fire you if you leave. However, you must be paid overtime for all hours you remain there after 8 in a day. This is true even if you are paid on a piece rate.

, you must be paid overtime for all hours you remain there after 8 in a day. This is true even if you are paid on a piece rate.

Hows the piece rate OT work?
Does this mean if you normally get 10 cents a piece that after 8 you would get 15?

Not necessarily, although the employer could do it that way. Generally speaking, accordingly to the FLSA, it's based on "regular rate of pay".

Say for example, you are paid at $1.00 per piece and you produce 500 pieces in your 50 hours of work.

50 * $1.00 = $500
$500/50 = $10.00 hourly "regular rate of pay"
10 hrs OT * $10 * .5 (premium portion of overtime; straight-time portion is already included in the piece rate component)
$500 + $50 = $550 minimum total compensation due

Anything over and above that is gravy. ;)

Patty's analysis is correct, but her arithmetic is not.

$500+$50 = $550.

The DLSE has specicially said that the method described by Joe is also allowed. However, since it would not be allowed under the FLSA, it should only be used in cases where it would provide a rate of pay at least equal to the FLSA. Cases that would not do this are where you work 8 hours on your piece material and then spend 2 hours on non-piece work, such as clean up, tear-down, etc. Under the piece-rate method, this would provide you no compenstation for those 2 hours of work. Thus, the FLSA would not allow it.

Oops. :o It's not my arithmetic, Michael, it's my typing and my lack of editing. I fixed it. :)