Hello,

Here is my situation: I am an exempt employee who supervises a production team. I work 1st shift, Monday through Friday,as do all of my direct reports. We are instituting a weekend run which will span Saturday night into Sunday morning (3rd shift).

We are compensating those employees who are non-exempt with a generous 25% differential. We are also being forced to work the shift as exempt employees. We are allowed to take another day off if we want during the week, or we can receive a $250.00 "stipend" which is a gross sum (pun intended), to be paid quarterly.

My question is this: The $250.00 is less than I would make in a normal 8 hour shift, and there is no compensation for my having to work these 3rd shift hours, effectively ruining both of my weekend days. Is this legal?

Are there any provisions protecting exempt employees from this practice, or does being exempt mean I can be required to work any shift, and any amount of hours without compensation?

Thanks in advance for your help.

If you are legally Exempt, the employer can make you work extra time without extra pay. This question gets asked many times a week. This is very well established federal law (FLSA).

For the "can I be forced to work overtime" question (as opposed to the "do I get paid for overtime" question), there are a very few exceptions for certain types of jobs such as airline pilots or minor children employees that have maximum hours worked limits. A few states have weak general rules on maximum hours worked, but what you describe goes nowhere near those limits.

This wouldn't help your exact situation but there is a "1 day of rest in 7" rule from MGL c. 149, section 48, depending on your industry this rule may apply to your second question.

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/149-48.htm

Are there any provisions protecting exempt employees from this practice, or does being exempt mean I can be required to work any shift, and any amount of hours without compensation?

Since you'll work 3rd shift Saturday night and your next shift is Monday 1st shift, you'll receive a 24hr period off that encompasses 8am and 5pm. If this didn't happen you would maybe entitled to a day off. However you couldn't be scheduled for any shift that would violate this rule (assuming your industry is covered).

there is no compensation for my having to work these 3rd shift hours, effectively ruining both of my weekend days. Is this legal?

Yes. Too bad about the weekends.

does being exempt mean I can be required to work any shift, and any amount of hours without compensation?

Your salary is your compensation, no matter how many hours you work. There are some advantages. If you work only part of a day, you still get paid for the full day (although your PTO might be docked).