I am Graphic Designer (Art Director) I was working for an apparel company in Florida and I worked on all printed materials, web design, clothing comps and even did minor office help. I worked 80 hours plus a week for almost a whole year and was never given any overtime pay for hours worked over 40/hrs a week.

Are there any laws against not paying your salary employee in Florida if they work over 40 hours a week? I mean he even made us work on weekends and tell us it did not matter when we worked nor how long because we were salary.

Please let me know what the laws are and if I can set an example of this company. they already have one employee taking them to court on the same thing except the other employee was not a designer.:confused:

If you were legitimately classified as exempt, there are no circumstances whatsoever, in any state, where you are legally entitled to any overtime regardless of how many hours you worked.

It's possible you could be exempt under the Administrative exemption or the Professional one.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17a_overview.pdf

Wow! thank you for the quick reply, both of you!

I have read over the attached pdf and saw nothing that complied with my tittle & duties. What would you suggest I do given my status?

Also, would this be an issue if it was during 2005?:confused:

yeah, 2005 could very well be a problem. Florida doesn't have a DOL to speak of, and the federal DOL will only take claims up to two years from the last occurence of the violation; three years if the violation is found to be willful. I recommend you contact the federal DOL immediately.

The Federal professional exemption from overtime specifically mentions graphic arts as a creative professional.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17d_professional.pdf

Thats awful. I cant believe that this is even legal. The fact that employers are allowed to blatantly abuse an employee in this manor is such a disgrace.

Us creative's may not put time in the physical labor department but we have our own type of health & physical issues from too much time on the job. It saddens me to know someone can misuse someone in this matter. I mean in the end I was getting paid barely $5.00 an hour after all that work put in. Not to mention doing the job of 4-6 people.

Anyways, Thank you all for helping me figure this out.

Thats awful. I cant believe that this is even legal.

It may be awful, but it is legal.

Legal or not, companies that abuse employees by underpaying and overworking them tend to have high turnover, to the benefit of other companies where the work is valued.

Quite frankly, 80 hours a week is quite standard for many exempt positions.