I am a BUILDING ENGINEER in a office building, working for a commercial real estate company in TEXAS.
-I am paid by salary.
-I was told from begginig that my work hours are every day from 7am to 16pm with one hour lunch break and I have to be on call 24/7. When I asked how they will compensate me for the hours I have to work over the regular time or as the respons to these calls and going to the buildings to take care any emergency calls I was told they will not pay me any time I will work over the regular time and they will not give me any comp time for this . I do not have to go to the buildings to take care the emergency calls ( they sad the former building engineer did this only one or two times in one year).For after hours emergency situations the Property Manager needs to call contractors.

- Nothing was as they told me. I have to work many hours over the regular time .I receive many after hours emergency calls from the property manager on call or from my property mangers or from the answering services... I have to work many hours after 16 pm , I have to come very early in the morning, I have to work weekends , nights and I have to respond to ALL emergency calls . I cannot take my lunch time because the calls I receive .These happens 24/7 including holidays- no exeptions and no exageration. Even Christmas Eve and New Year Eve.
I reported all these problems to all the levels. I was told very clear- NO OVERTIME . Only some COMP TIME - one day off every 3 months for beeing on call 24/7.
- My time I have to work over the regular time is from 30 hours to 60 hours every month. I have been doing this for more than 3 years.

Any advise ? PLEASE HELP ME.

If your job is properly classified as exempt, then there are no circumstances under which you need be paid overtime (or offered comp time for that matter.) What we can't tell is whether your job does indeed meet the criteria for exempt status. Building engineer could mean anything from custodial work to a job that requires a degree in mechanical engineering and involves fairly complex facilities engineering work.

There are a number of different categories under which a position can qualify for exempt status. If yours does, then I expect it would be under this category:

Learned professional exemption

• The employee must be paid on a salary or fee basis at a rate not less than $455 per week.

• The employee's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, that's predominantly intellectual in character, which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment.

• The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning.

• The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.


If your job should be paid on a non-exempt (hourly) basis, which means you should be receiving overtime pay and you aren't, then you can contact your State's Department of Labor and file a complaint. (Or you can just contact them for further clarification on your job's exempt or non-exempt status.)

If your job is properly classified as exempt, then there are no circumstances under which you need be paid overtime (or offered comp time for that matter.) What we can't tell is whether your job does indeed meet the criteria for exempt status. Building engineer could mean anything from custodial work to a job that requires a degree in mechanical engineering and involves fairly complex facilities engineering work.

There are a number of different categories under which a position can qualify for exempt status. If yours does, then I expect it would be under this category:

Learned professional exemption

• The employee must be paid on a salary or fee basis at a rate not less than $455 per week.

• The employee's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, that's predominantly intellectual in character, which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment.

• The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning.

• The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.


If your job should be paid on a non-exempt (hourly) basis, which means you should be receiving overtime pay and you aren't, then you can contact your State's Department of Labor and file a complaint. (Or you can just contact them for further clarification on your job's exempt or non-exempt status.)

The minimum Qualifications (as education ) for this Building Engineer job is HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA OR GED as is disribed in "JOB DESCRIPTION".The job do not requires advanced knowledge predominantly intellectual in character. So the job doesnt meet the criteria for exempt status.
What do I have to do in this situation,please?

Contact your State's Department of Labor and file a complaint regarding your unpaid overtime.