overtime via bi-weekly pay cycle...please help! New Hampshire New Hampshire

[moovguy]

My employer REFUSES to pay overtime to anyone on thier staff, claiming they are exempt because they are on a bi-weekly pay roll....we get paid every two weeks. So they assume that they DO NOT have to pay us overtime as long as we don't work more than 80 hours during those two weeks.

Here is my situation:

I will typically work anywhere from 55 - 70 hours in one forty hour week, and then my employer will decide to only schedule me the difference of 80 hours (10ish hours) the following week. I have been planning on receiving this overtime, and am a bit shocked at this game-playing. I am almost positive it is completely illegal for them to be doing this, as it doesn't matter when we receive our paychecks, but overtime is still calculated in increments of forty-hour weeks--at least according to everything I've read and that HUGE labor law poster in the break room. I want my 15 hours of overtime I beleive I'm due!

Is there some catch here? They claim they have a special "waiver"...but I would assume that waiver is merely so they can disperse thier paychecks bi-weekly, not a permission to not pay overtime....

Any input is greatly appreciated...If this is illegal, I'm not sure what the next steps for me to take are, because ALL of thier staff (I am relatively new) has had this happen to them for the past year and a half...that means there would be a hell of a lot of overtime to be paid out.

ALSO:
I know for a fact that our employer has audio recording on at least one video camera within the facility. I only know this because I have been bragged to about it. This is also illegal in the state of New Hampshire, correct? How would I be able to prove they are doing it? Or would an inspector just have to investigate himself?

Sorry for rambling, and thanks again for any help!

[ScottB]

Your post is a little long.

Bottom line is if you work more than 40 hours in a work week, you get overtime. Not over 80 hours in a bi-weekly period OR (as some of my clients have tried to do) over 88 hours in a semi-monthly period.

[DAW]

Just to be sure, what is the nature of the employer's business?

[moovguy]

technically it could be classified as recreation, i suppose....but it's open year round and over half of its income is NOT made within 3 months, etc, etc...sorry i know that's fuzzy, but it doesn't count as one for wage purposes, as classified by what i read on the state labor board's web site

[DAW]

There are a lot of overtime exceptions, but you apparently already know about the seasonal exception, so lets say that based on what you have said there is a 99% chance that you are owed overtime. Your remedies are to file a wage claim with state DOL, or federal DOL, or to file a court action, generally in small claims court.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs23.htm