Ok here is the situation without to many details.

I was just recently layed off.

I worked on average 10 hours a week OT for three years. I think that the ten hour average is very fair and may be higher by a couple hours.

I was considered a manager in the store (retail grocery) but did mostly labor work. Stocking, register, cleaning, ext. My management duties included at least hiring, ordering. I did some accounting and books when the owner was on vacation or otherwise out of the office, but I did not pay the bills or such. I could sign checks but it was rarely needed.

My employer told other employees I was payed a salary but never told me that. I She also said that she does not pay overtime. The schedule is such that any full time employee has too work about 30 min. ot a day to close up the store. You are expected to do this. But no compensation.

My check does seem to show that I work hourly as it always has the number of hours on the check. Aways exactly forty a week since I started working there. So my monthly check may show 160 hours at 15.50/hr

I have never worked less that 40 ever unless on a vacation. I took around a total of 4 weeks off the entire time I worked there. I was given 2 weeks a year.

I have no records of my hours worked because she throws away the time cards at the end of the week and enters the hours in the computer up to 40. anything over is unaccounted for. that goes for everyone. occasionally she will carry over a hour or so OT into the next week for some of the workers who work less or take more time off.


Early in my employment she told me to stop filling them out because she doesn't pay OT and that she will just punch 40 in the computer. I followed her instructions mainly because she also promised to sell me the store in a couple years. So I worked hard and covered all shifts and such. She did love me as I worked my *** off and did a great job. I worked the hours with the assumption that she would sell mew the store at a fair rate, and that I would be a long time employee.

I actually kept track of my time several times over the course of the three years. once I logged over 90 hours in a month during a thanksgiving month that she was on vacation. I got payed for nothing no OT or flat papayas kept track and kept it on my desk just to show her if she said anything about me not working hard enough. well she found it one day and threw it away. She did that a couple times. I was told by someone a long time ago that i should keep track at home but it is difficult to come home and them punch out. I am tired and my have to goto a store or something. its hard to do. She must have thrown away 5 of my secretly held time cards. A couple she may have not know what they where because I started to keep track in binary on a sheet of legal paper so she wouldn't know what they where. But they got thrown away as well.

Negotiations came down this last couple weeks. she said that she would need to lay me off and take over my position because I cost to much or I could buy the store. I had planned on buying it and we have talked about it for years. She said 600,00 later that day she raised it yo 650 I started to scramble to get the money because she said I would need to know by the end of the month(April) because at that time I would be layed off If I did not buy it. She then raised the price to 700 the at the time of negotiations she raised it to 900 and said she would take 850. I was pissed and made a low offer and let her lay me off. My offer was not out of line it was 450, but I have prove my numbers her asking price was just on a scrap paper. Mine was written out itemizing the price of the land, inventory, building, equipment, exc.

I know most of this may not matter I just want to make sure I am not leaving out any info.


Am I an exempt employee?
Am I due ot?
I have no record is this a major problem?
I have about 4 employees that would testify to my hours worked.
The accountant may testify as well if he wouldn't get implicated.
I have calculated on averages that I am due 30,420.00 in OT and or Flat pay. Would this number mean anything to anybody?
Should I sue?
Any advice?

Could I sue for over the amount owed to me? Like punitive damages or interest attorney fees, or whatever.

Thanks for reading this long winded confusing situation.

Mike...

Only you know if you are an exempt employee. Most managers are, but if you were being paid hourly and had the same work functions as a non-manager, then an argument can be made that you were a manager that was an hourly worker entitled to overtime. The other issue here is whether this distinction makes a difference because this sounds like a small busienss situation, so some federal laws and state laws may not apply regarding employee status, which governs how overtime pay is paid. For exempt persons, it is usually comp time. For hourly workers, overtime is usually paid per state/federal regulations. ----As for the purchase, if there is no offer and acceptance, it does not matter, except to the extent that maybe you worked overtime as consideration toward buying the store. But none of this is in writing, so not likely to come into play.

Thank you for the reply.

I still have a question.

You said that only I know if I am an exempt employee. I dont know if I am. Could you point me in the right direction.

It is a small business with about 5-6 employees not including the owner.
I never signed any contract stating my expected work load or number of hours to be worked. I just worked as much as needed. Most I would say over 75% of my work load was the same as any other employee, just with more responsablility.