Manager Scratching Off Hours

[JenDM84]

I'm almost sure that a former manager of mine has been/is scratching off overtime hours for regular employees. Although I no longer work under her, we're still employed by the same company. Every employee has a time card, and when the two-week period ends, the managers write the total hours, and then they send it in to the office. It's stressed by the office that regular employees should not work over 80 hours in a pay period, but I know now by Virginia law that they have to pay overtime. She used to say that they "Cannot and will not pay overtime." I have a feeling that my former manager has not only screwed me, but a lot of other unaware employees for a very long time. Would they still have time cards available, and what about the other people that I know who've gotten screwed, too?

[Beth3]

In theory, your employer should be keeping timecards and payroll records for at least the two prior calendar years, as I believe that's the length of time those records are subject to audit.

Since you only suspect this manager has been shorting employees' timecards but have no specific incidents you can point to, I'd advise that you be cautious on how you approach this but it sounds like the thing to do may be to have a confidential word with HR and share your concerns. (Most hourly employees I've worked with pretty much know to the minute how much time they should be paid for. I'd find it peculiar that no one has complained if this has been going on for some time.)

[JenDM84]

I work at a tourist area where most of the jobs are seasonal. Most of the employees my company hires are foreign exchange students, and half the time they don't even know what's going on. The funny thing also is that the day after I made that post, my former assistant manager came and visited me, and she told me she put in her two weeks notice. She also commented about her scratching off her hours, too. It's weird.