Just started a new Job in Iowa and the company doesn't pay overtime.
I'm hired as mantenance with a wide range of responsibilities ie fix this and fix that. It seems to be a fine place to work but is it legal for no overtime pay?
The employee handbook has a statement that they have exempt and non-exempt employees and do not pay overtime.
Help Please, I know this is just going to eat at me.
Ohh, and I'm an hourly employee.
Thanks

When you say they don't pay overtime, are you saying that you will never work more than 40 hours or that if you do work more than 40 hours they won't pay you overtime wages for it?

No overtime over 40 hours, figure I'll be working 50 or 55 per week.

The company does not have a choice in your case. You are a non-exempt employee and, if the company makes you work more than 40 hours in a work week, it must pay you time and a half for the overtime hours worked.

That's what I thought, ScottB. After the first day when I read the handbook at home I thought, how odd. One thing I did not mention, they do offer days off, (I guess to keep the hours down). They have a fairly flexable atmosphere and I can take longer lunches etc. The job actually is great!
I guess my next question is what do I do? I can see myself fired if I make a point of the Overtime Laws, and I'm still in the probation period. I can also see myself blackballed in the area if I raise a stink. Guess I will wait untill my first pay check and see what the numbers say.
I have been doing some reading on the Law and is it possible that they are exempt from paying Overtime?
The employer is an egg production facility, (chickens dropping eggs, eggs packed and sent out).

Thanks again.

OK, now you've thrown a monkey wrench into the works. SOME agricultural business ARE exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA.

The following are examples of employees exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime pay requirements:
Farm workers employed on small farms (i.e., those that used less than 500 "man‑days" of farm labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year);


and

The following are examples of employees exempt from the overtime pay requirements only:
Farmworkers.


To find out for sure if your employer is not subject to the Act for purposes of overtime pay and minimum wage, or your type of work is not covered under the Act, contact the federal Dept. of Labor at 1-866-4-USWAGE
.

Thanks Pattymd.
They operate six days a week, one shift with aprox 10 people at work, so I can not emagine the (500 man/woman days) would apply, even if it was a farm.
(OOPs, thats 500 man hours is it not?)

But that's the requirement for the EMPLOYER to be exempt from paying overtime and minimum wages. The EMPLOYEE may still not be entitled to overtime under the second quote I cited.

If he was feeding the chickens, he would be a farm worker, but he is fixing machinery. I don't think he is exempt from overtime. He should still make the call, though.

Understood, but it is not a farm I don't believe. They house chickens and sell the eggs. Could it still be classified as a farm?

Lots of chicken farms near me. That's what we call them -- farms.

Thanks all, with one million chickens they are fed automatically.
I'll make the call I guess, and then look for another job.