I have worked as a consulting firm for almost 4 years. Although overtime is rare for me, I have performed it over the past years with this company and others. The employee handbook states that you will be compensated at your hourly rate (salary / 2080hrs) for those hours worked beyond 40 hrs/wk. The client has began only paying the company 70% of the rate for hours worked beyond 40 hrs which is still more than enough to cover my hourly rate. I recently worked overtime and was not only paid at 70% of my salaries hourly rate but the time was reported as a bonus rather than hours. Consultants working for other clients of the company I work for are still paid at 100% of their hourly rate. Is this legal? Is the employer in violation? I thought that all policies should be applied fairly among all employees and any deviation would require a seperate contract for that which deviates from policy outlined in the employee handbook.

If you qualify for the overtime exemption as defined by the FLSA, you don't have to pay any additional compensation at all; however, you must be paid a "guaranteed" salary of at least $455 (higher in some states).

Otherwise, you must be paid overtime at 1.5 times your regular hourly rate.

Note that "salaried" is merely a method of calculating pay. It does not automatically, in and of itself, make you exempt.

What exactly are your job duties? And have you asked your HR dept. whether you are classified as exempt or nonexempt? What do they say?

My duties are that of a consultant. I develop software and report to the client site daily. My question does not relate so much to exempt vs non exempt status rather whether or not an employer can arbitrarily apply overtime rates at a whim. Those who do the same job at the client I work for are expected to work overtime without overtime pay. As a consultant (contractor) we are paid for overtime by the company and I have been paid this for almost 4 years from this company. All consultants (like me) that are employees of the company are paid overtime (an hours pay for an hours work). We have the same title, job duties, etc. I don't believe we are allotted this provision by law, but it is a company policy. When a company policy is not applied evenly accross the board does this make the company in violation of fair labor practices. (i.e. If I were to work for another client, I would have received 100% of an hours pay like my counterparts at a different client. If I were an independent contractor through the company. Maybe I should be in a different forum? What do you think

First of all, an employee handbook hardly ever rises to the level of a valid, enforceable contract.

Secondly, it is not illegal for an employer to make exceptions to their pay policies, unless such an exception is in violation of wage and hour laws. It may be unfair, but it is not illegal.

2 Employees work for a company. They have the same title, job responsibilities, etc. Their salaries are the same. The only difference is they are at 2 different clients. Policy states they are both paid at their hourly rate for overtime. 1 gets paid 100% and one gets 70%. Is that legal?

Again, as long as you are correctly classfied as an exempt employee, they don't legally have to pay you any overtime at all. If they do, they do not have to pay the same to each similarly situated employee.