Hi.

I'm an employee of a major retail corporation that simply will not allow employees to work for more than 40 hours a week.

Assume a work week includes 5 days with 9 hour shifts, including 1 hour unpaid lunch. If after the 4th day of work, it is determined that you have 12 minutes of overtime, employees are required to take a lunch longer that exceeds one hour by the amount of overtime one has already worked, which in this case is 12 minutes.

Is there anything legally wrong with this? Are shifts allowed to be altered simply because an employer doesn't want to pay overtime to its employees?

Thanks in advance for responses. :)

Overtime is paid after 40 hours WORKED in one work week, so if you have 8 hour shifts with unpaid lunch, you really can't exceed the 40 by the 4th day. What they are doing is anticipating that it could lead to overtime, so yes, they can cut your hours BEFORE the overtime kicks in.

Once you work over 40 hours in a work week then you must be paid time and a half for that time.

So you're saying that even if I'm scheduled for a certain time, they can change that whenever they want without my consent?

Yes, that's right. The employer sets the hours of work, not the employee, and they can make changes as they see fit.

GhostsDaddy-- that is not what I was saying. I am saying you need to actually work (not just get paid for) MORE THAN 40 HOURS IN ONE WORK WEEK before OT kicks in.

And in answer to the next question, yes, they can change your schedule to meet their needs.

Alright, thanks. That's no fun. :( Lol.