I do secretarial work in Florida. I am paid hourly. There are only 2 employees. The other person is salaried. The hours are long and I am paid my hourly rate for however many hours I work. When I asked the office manager (the other employee) about overtime I was told that overtime is never paid and that anyway the work work the boss has set is 45 hours not 40. She said I was told that the work week was 45 hours when I was hired (I don't remember that. I only remember being asked if I would mind working some nights and weekends.) She also said that a few years ago an employee tried to get overtime but the boss saw a lawyer and he did not have to pay it.

Can a boss set the hours for a work week at more than 40 as far as paying overtime? I don't mind the hours, I just want to get paid overtime if I am entitled. What reason could there be that the boss didn't have to pay overtime? Am I entitled to it?

Yes, you are entitled to 1.5 times your hourly wage for anything over 40 hours.

Yes, you are entitled to 1.5 times your hourly wage for anything over 40 hours.

Is that just in Florida or is it Federal (i.e. every state). I'm in Texas, work as an office manager, and on average work 45 to 50 hours a week. There is a question as to whether or not my position is an "exempt" position. How can I find out if I should be getting paid overtime? Been working at this job almost 3 years and this was not an issue until my boss started talking about reducing my salary after my doctor reduced my maximum weekly working hours.

In addition, we are limited to 16 hours a year of "time" that we can use for doctor appointments or personal time. Anything over 16 hours could result in "docked" pay. My understanding of a salary position is that these types of things aren't really kept track of unless they become excessive.

To determine whether your job duties qualify you as an exempt employee:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17a_overview.htm

The situations under which an exempt employee's salary may be docked:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_541/29CFR541.118.htm

Federal law dictates that anything over 40 hours in a week is paid at the rate of time and a half, with limited exceptions. Some states have different requirements. Neither Florida nor Texas is among them.

Salaried is only a pay method. What matters is whether you are exempt or non-exempt. If you are non-exempt, your employer never has to pay you when you are not at work, salaried or not. (I agree that it does not make sense to make a non-exempt employee salaried and then dock them, but it is legal.) If you are exempt, then your employer cannot dock your PAY in partial day increments unless you are absent for a reason covered by FMLA; however, your sick, vacation, personal or other paid leave can be docked in order to keep your paycheck whole. There are certain exceptions when an exempt employee can be docked in full day increments; they are covered in Patty's link.

I have been reading different posts here to try to figure out how my employer could have gotten away with not paying overtime in the past. I heard that someone did try to get it a few years ago but that the boss ended up not having to pay after consulting with an attorney. I am certain the job would have been non-exempt. If I am reading some of these posts correctly, since this is Florida, the employer can lower the hourly pay retroactively. Is that so? If that is correct, I can imagine that just the threat of a retroactive pay cut would stop anybody from trying to get overtime. I am just curious as I think I will just wait until I leave this job to try to get the overtime due me. I understand that they only go back 2 years.

I have no direct evidence; however, I have advised posters to report a retroactive pay cut to the FL DOL (or whatever they're calling it these days) and had them report back that the state said this was legal and would take no action as long as the employee was receiving state minimum wage or more. So I assume that yes, in Florida, retroactive pay cuts are permitted.

Thank you for the information. I will absolutely wait until I am no longer at this job to try to get my overtime pay.