I live in Kansas and we work 40+ hours a week Mon-Fri. Well now my employer is wanting us to do CPR/First Aid training on Saturday from like 9am-3 pm and they are wanting to just pay everyone a flat rate of $50.00. Is that legal or do they owe me overtime?? :confused:

Tara9099,

It is illegal what your employer is doing. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), also known as the federal Wage and Hour Law, requires enterprises engaged in interstate or foreign commerce and state and local governments to pay overtime of 1 1/2 times an employee's regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek.

Dave is right. Of course, if you are exempt from overtime, your employer is not required to pay you anything for working on that additional day.

Also, what is your typical rate of pay? Will the $50 cover the time and a half pay? Your employer must pay you the minimum amount of time and a half. If they end up paying you more, it's okay. It's just that the amount will be counted as compensation in calculating your base rate.

Let us know if you have additional questions.

I spoke with this lady from the Kanasas Dept. of Labor and now she really confused me. She said they can change the rate of pay and make it lower but the hours will count towards your weekly hours. So they can say Training Pay is like 7.00 an hour but it would still have to be overtime at that rate right?? 50.00 for 6 hours isn't even close to what some people are making most everone I work with makes 11+ an hour. I'm not sure she knew what she was talking about I'm suppose to get an answer from the U.S. Dept. of Labor and I think they can clear it up.

Your employer can change your rate of pay. However, your overtime for the week must be calculated on a blend of your regular rate and the new rate. If you work more than 40 hours in the week, you will receive overtime...but it may be at less than your typical overtime (because of the blended rate).

Let me know if you have additional questions.