I work for a big coporation but in a small dept of it. I am based in CA but I work for a racing team and travel alot. (30x or so) I am an employee and with travel time(at max 8hrs) I work about 55-65 hours a week. I was starting to get a little frustrated with the policies and started looking into things. I am a mechanic, do not have any post high school education and do not manage anyone. The policy that my employer has is that for every weekend you work(sat/sun) you get one day off. However I was told not to tell HR about it because its a "dept policy" and we are lucky to get that. HR told me that as a salaried employee, i was exempt and they gave me a desciption of that. I did a little digging, and thought that they were wrong, and visited a lawyer.
He was really nice and convinced me that I was eligible and told me that he wouldnt collect anything unless I collected. He told me they are wrong and to let him know when I was ready.
Well, I am ready to leave this job and have been writing my hours down for a year or so, I am still having a hard time believing that this big corporation could be wrong.There must be something that I fall under to make me exempt? If I do this and dont collect anything then my rep my be damaged in my small industry. If I win then I think it'll be worth it, I just wanna be sure. He also told me that labor law was "black and white" and they are breaking it. So, what do you guys think?

On the surface of things, I doubt very seriously that you could be correctly classified as an exempt employee. However, you do not need a lawyer to pursue this. Contact the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and file a claim for unpaid overtime. The state will investigate and order the employer to pay back overtime wages if applicable. Your record of hours worked will help immensely. Make sure you provide a copy with your claim.

I did go to the labor board but the place was swamped, the guy gave me 30 sec of his time and gave me some papers. He did say that he thought I was non-exempt. I figured that a lawyer could help me out a little bit better. MY lawyer said that to file a claim takes a year or so before you get a hearing and if you dont fill something out right, it goes right back down to the bottom of pile.Another point he brought up was that they will almost always settle and it wont go to court. He is charging me 30% of monies recovered. Another question I have is what are the damages and penalties and do I get a part of that? Also I have been truthfully keeping track of my hours, but couldnt somebody just make stuff up, is my calendar going to hold up in court?

Well, you can throw away 30% of your pay if you want to, but I would take a shot at the state first. And I don't think the state can settle on a lesser amount without your approval. In any case, it sounds to cynical me like an attorney just trying to get your business when you can get it for free from the state. Would it go faster with an attorney? Probably. Do you want to spend nearly a third of the amount for that time? Your call.

Thanks for your advice, maybe I will try that. Do you think it will be a year or so before the case gets looked at? What is the penalties and and am I eligible for this money?

Penalties? If there are, I don't think you would receive the benefit of these, but I'm really not sure. Time frame? Again, you would have to ask them. It could be from as little as 2-3 weeks to 6 or more months. All depends on their backlog. But it's free! :)

Based solely on what you have told us in your posts, it sounds like a slam dunk to me. But, you never know how your employer will respond.

Good luck.