My current job requires me to work at least Monday-Friday 8am till 4:30pm to get a full paycheck. There is a 30 minute lunch each day, so it's 8 hours a day of work.

The problem is that I fairly often have to be there before 8, sometimes as early as 5am, and it's rare that I ever get to leave on time. I have worked 18 hour days before. I have had to work 7 days a week before as well.

None of which results in more pay!

So a 70 hour week, and a 40 hour week pay the exact same, but a 39 hour week is short 1/40th of my check.

Also, if I didn't make 40 hours Monday-Friday, but I worked Saturday or Sunday and those hours added to what I did during the week make at least 40, I still only get paid for the hours worked Monday-Friday.

So if I worked 35 hours Monday-Friday, and worked 10 hours a day Saturday and Sunday, making a total of 55 hours worked that week. I would still only get paid for 35 hours.

I have also been docked money before because I was subpoenaed to go to court because I witnessed a police officer get assaulted at my other job. I was gone for 2 hours to court, and my check was missing 2 hours from it if you based my flat rate pay on a 40 hour week.

This has not happened to me, but my employer will dock employees for an hour if they are just one minute late showing up for work. If they miss a day, they are docked for 8 hours, regardless of the reason, even work related injuries.

This can't be legal, can it? And if not, what do I do?

Thanks
-Kyle

A non-exempt employee can be docked for as little as one minute; a non-exempt employee never (or very rarely) has to be paid when they don't work. On the other hand, a non-exempt employee must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours in a week.

An exempt employee never has to be paid anything whatsoever over and above their regular salary, no matter how many hours they work. On the other hand, an exempt employee can only have their pay docked in very limited circumstances, and only in partial day increments if FMLA is involved.

We don't know, from what you tell us, whether you are exempt or non-exempt; that is determined by your job duties. However, if you are non-exempt, your employer is required to pay you overtime; if you are exempt, they erred in docking you for the two hours when you went to court, UNLESS that pay was taken out of your vacation or personal time.