this is kinda complicated,but il try,i work constuction,some jobs we have are "scale jobs"that pay a amount set by the state usually 20.00$ an hour,4 of our employees working on a job that pays are regular rate,12.00 an hour,an were working ....... monday -thursday,10hrs ,off friday ,40 hrs
they wanted us to work saturday at the scale job,which we thought was $30 an hour,$20 at time an a half,since we already had 40 hrs in.we worked 8 hours .when we got our check,they had payed our overtime,based on 2hrs a day over 8 hrs at our normal $12. an hour instead of the overtime at scale pay
we asked them about it,they told us they could pay our overtime either way,either over 40 hrs or any over 8 hrs a day,basically which ever way saved them money
its a lil complicated,hope you understand it.

I am not the best person to answer this, but you sort of have two different legal issues:
- Federal law (FLSA) dictates overtime be paid for all hours worked past 40 in the workweek. The overtime premium is based on payments actually made during the workweek.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs23.pdf
- Your use of the word "scale" sounds a lot like a "prevailing wage" question, which is very much not my area of expertise, especially not in your state. I am going to have to defer that issue to someone else.

yes that is the prevailing wage i called scale,thanks for your reply.

Thread bump. Anyone care to respond to a Prevailing Wage question?

ScottB might know something about it.

Sorry, Prevailing Wage isn't in my bailiwick.

I am certain that I responded to a post like this only a few days ago. Well, maybe early Alzheimer's is kicking in or I have dreams that forecast future threads.

If there is a federal, state or local wage determination (WD) in effect, then you get paid the rate (plus fringe) for the hours you worked on the job, but you need to pay attention to what the employer has set as the work week. It is possible that the work week ends on midnight on Friday. That would mean that any hours worked after midnight on Friday are part of a new work week. If the company pays you an overtime premium for working more than eight hours in a day, it it either something required by the WD OR something they do without being required to do so.

I cannot explain how the compeny came up with your pay at this point.

You need to understand

When the work week begins (ending is always 168 hours later)
Your rate of pay for various jobs (which may include fringe benefits in cash)
The rates of pay for the different jobs
How much time you put into the different jobs.

If there is overtime, you should be paid a weighted average for the two jobs, unless you were informed that the company would only pay you the overtime for the rate in effect at the time it was worked.

they do not normally pay us, over 8 as overtime we work 4-10s ,40 hrs ,no overtime,they didnt tell us anything ,we thought we were gonna get the overtime at prevailing wage,because we had our 40 in already,they said it was there option,to pay us for over 8 hours a day,or over 40,they did the over 8 hrs a day instead,was just wondering if that legally is a option ?something they can decide week to week or does it have to be one way or the other,its a small mom an pop company,but im guessing they no how the rules work........thanks again

they do not normally pay us, over 8 as overtime we work 4-10s ,40 hrs ,no overtime,they didnt tell us anything ,we thought we were gonna get the overtime at prevailing wage,because we had our 40 in already,they said it was there option,to pay us for over 8 hours a day,or over 40,they did the over 8 hrs a day instead,was just wondering if that legally is a option ?something they can decide week to week or does it have to be one way or the other,its a small mom an pop company,but im guessing they no how the rules work........thanks again

I have difficulty understanding the problem.

They have no choice but to pay you for working over 40 hours in a work week, no matter what (well, there is one odd exception for health care).

If you had already worked 40 hours IN THE WORK WEEK (key phrase there), then any other hours worked would have to be time and a half. It could be at the prevailing wage rate, if you were working on such a job. It could be at your regular rate, if you were not working on a prevailing wage job. It would be interesting to see what the DOL would say about the overtime rate when you are working a prevailing wage job and another one paying substantially less. Under FLSA, the company need only pay you at the average wage, which would be less than the prevailing wage rate.

Now for the key phrase -- pay close attention to when your work week begins and ends. If you figure that your pay is based upon your work from Monday through Friday, you could be in for a surprise.

Due to cutbacks, my company is trying to not pay for overtime. Instead they want to give us time off for our time worked. For instance, one employee was asked to take off 9 hours of OT from this weeks work today. The manager said the time would be given back next week. Can they do this? We are hourly employees and today is the end of the pay period. Thanks.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs23.pdf

Overtime Pay May Not Be Waived: The overtime requirement may not be waived by agreement between the employer and employees. An agreement that only 8 hours a day or only 40 hours a week will be counted as working time also fails the test of FLSA compliance. An announcement by the employer that no overtime work will be permitted, or that overtime work will not be paid for unless authorized in advance, also will not impair the employee's right to compensation for compensable overtime hours that are worked.

chiptv, next time start your own thread instead of hijacking someone else's.