BiggT
02-13-2006, 07:35 AM
Ok I got to give you a full back ground. First I am a software engineer and I work in Mississippi.
Hurricane katrina came and I worked the hurricane and I was verbally told that I would get hazard pay for this time. After teh hurricane everything was a mess and the company did not know where it was going to go. We started volunteering at emergancy operating centers and hoping to get a contract which we did.
The company volunteered my time and made me work 80-90 hours a week with very few days off maybe 2 or 3 for the first 5 weeks adn then only paid me 40 hours a week. At this time I was not working as a software engineer for the county but i was working as a GIS analsyt and making maps and things like that.
Since then we have gotten a contract to do GIS work. we are still working 60-90 hour weeks 6 months into this and we are now getting paid straight time no time and a half for or over time. I have done some software engineering work but not much and it is mainly GIS mapping work.
I asked my employer about the hazard pay only to be riticuled and told that I was in no more of a hazard than anyone else. My response was that i was working and everyone else was away with their family but this did not get a reaction.
I am now wondering if I should not only get paid haxard pay for the time I worked during the hurricane but also tiem and a half for the time that i have worked at the EOC. All contracts are contract with FEMA and I am not given an option about days off or hours I would like to work. I am afraid if I ask for 40 hour weeks I will be fired and everytime I submit a request for time off I get my head bitten off. PLease give me some advice on what action I can take.
Thanks
BiggT
Hurricane katrina came and I worked the hurricane and I was verbally told that I would get hazard pay for this time. After teh hurricane everything was a mess and the company did not know where it was going to go. We started volunteering at emergancy operating centers and hoping to get a contract which we did.
The company volunteered my time and made me work 80-90 hours a week with very few days off maybe 2 or 3 for the first 5 weeks adn then only paid me 40 hours a week. At this time I was not working as a software engineer for the county but i was working as a GIS analsyt and making maps and things like that.
Since then we have gotten a contract to do GIS work. we are still working 60-90 hour weeks 6 months into this and we are now getting paid straight time no time and a half for or over time. I have done some software engineering work but not much and it is mainly GIS mapping work.
I asked my employer about the hazard pay only to be riticuled and told that I was in no more of a hazard than anyone else. My response was that i was working and everyone else was away with their family but this did not get a reaction.
I am now wondering if I should not only get paid haxard pay for the time I worked during the hurricane but also tiem and a half for the time that i have worked at the EOC. All contracts are contract with FEMA and I am not given an option about days off or hours I would like to work. I am afraid if I ask for 40 hour weeks I will be fired and everytime I submit a request for time off I get my head bitten off. PLease give me some advice on what action I can take.
Thanks
BiggT
