Employed without contract? Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan

[Maria1]

Hello there.
My husband has been currently employed in a hotel. 4 years ago he started working as housemen( setting up rooms for banquets, etc) about 9-10 months ago he was promoted to banquet supervisor.
His position was changed rom hourly to salary. Making about 30.000 a year.
Now here are a couple of questions:
He is not clocking in or out, so therefore his time at work is not being recorded. He has been putting way more than his supposed 50 hours a week minimum.is there any regulation that states that his time must be logged in somewhere?
He spends 80% of the time doing manager duties. How ever he has not gotten over time pay. I don't believe his position qualifies as an overtime exempt position under michigan law. Does it?
Also for months he has asked to be able to see and SIGN, his new contract ( yes when he was promoted and was never shown a contract where his "do and donts" where stipulated, nor his salary specified and other therm.) is this legal?

At this point I want to walk in his workplace, ask for his full contract and his classification as exempt or non exempt and a log of sorts for his hours. I believe that as his wife I am entitled to be able to receive this information (hey, if I get half his debt I should be able to see how much he is making, right? Under the law we are one entity) he is affraid that this could jeopardize his job. Would it ?

Any answer would be deeply appreciated and if I have to sue I will happily do it based on my chances on winning. I believe this is outright abuse by his employer.

[Marketeer]

As his wife, you are most assuredly not entitled to walk into his workplace and demand information. Having a wife who does so could be a career-limiting move for your husband. You also have no right or standing under the law to sue.

It's also extremely unlikely that your husband would have a contract in his position. The vast majority of employees in the U.S. do not work under contracts. You may be referring to an offer letter; however, offer letters rarely rise to the level of enforceable contracts.

I'll let other posters who have more experience with FLSA address whether he is properly classified as exempt. I will say that, when you are an exempt employee, you work until the job is done. I had a huge deadline at work this week and put in 70 hours. Being a banquet supervisor almost guarantees that you will work long, late hours.

[Maria1]

As his wife, you are most assuredly not entitled to walk into his workplace and demand information. Having a wife who does so could be a career-limiting move for your husband. You also have no right or standing under the law to sue.

It's also extremely unlikely that your husband would have a contract in his position. The vast majority of employees in the U.S. do not work under contracts. You may be referring to an offer letter; however, offer letters rarely rise to the level of enforceable contracts.

I'll let other posters who have more experience with FLSA address whether he is properly classified as exempt. I will say that, when you are an exempt employee, you work until the job is done. I had a huge deadline at work this week and put in 70 hours. Being a banquet supervisor almost guarantees that you will work long, late hours.

I should have clarified, my husband and me will be suing, if there is any fault from his employer.

There was no offer letter either. No physical piece of paper that stated pay rates or duties.or even a promotion offered.

What he does while managing is: payroll, time clock, set up overviews, banquet order reviews, staff meetings, kitchen to banquet communications, running personel scheduling, and even helping up during events.

Thank you for your answer! It clarifies some things. As a foreign I find that this country still needs a great deal of work on improving its law. A clear example is, I get half his debt but I can't ask for his income information. Or I added his name in my personal bank account (where I only make deposits) but I can't close the account if I want to without him, but he can without me.

[cbg]

No, YOU will not be suing, no matter what. YOU have no standing to sue. Only your husband has any standing to take any kind of action at all, and even if the employer is in the wrong, suing may or may not be the best way to go. However, right off the top, I'm not seeing any obvious wrongdoing on the part of the employer.

There is no legal requirement that he have anything in writing, including a contract or an offer letter. The lack of such does NOT create grounds for him to take legal action.

If your husband's duties qualify him to be considered exempt under the FLSA, and from the duties you have listed it's quite possible that he does, then there is no requirement that his hours be recorded and no requirement that he be paid overtime.

I do not disagree with you that the labor laws in this country need serious revision. However, until such time as that happens, we're stuck with the laws as they are.

[HRinMA]

http://www.dol.gov/elaws/

The Federal Dept of Labor has lots of information on exempt status. Judging by what you listed, I would think he was exempt. There is even a section where you are walked through with yes or no questions to determine if the position is exempt.

I do agree with the other posters that you have no reason to insert yourself into the process. The government won't accept any claim from you since you are not the aggrieved party.

[ElleMD]

A spouse who comes in and starts making demands is a great way to find out what unemployment feels like. And it is entirely legal to fire him for your behavior. He is an adult. They employ him, not you. As an adult, they can and should expect that he can take care of his own affairs and if he has aquestion about his job, be mature enough to ask it himself, not send his wife in to manage things for him. Why trust a supervisor to manage company resources who can not even ask some simple questions related to his own job? If you want to know how much your husband makes, ask him. You are married to him. If your marriage is such that you can't get the information from him, do not expect the employer to play marriage counselor. Even if the employer were to give into your demands, it REALLY makes him look bad.

The employer is not required to put anything in writing nor are they required to keep track of the hours he works. If they do track those hours, they are not required to share that with you or anyone else. Based on what ou shatred, he is not entitled to OT by law.

[DAW]

Agreed with all of the other answers. Past that:
- Any employee can keep their own time accounting records. The emplioyers version of the time accounting records are not legally considered any more valid then the employee's version.
- If the employee is non-exempt, then the employer is legally required to keep time accounting records under FLSA. HOWEVER, if the employer fails to do so, the employee is not the legally damaged party. Frankly it is to the non-exeempt employee's advantage that the employer not keep time accounting records.
- As was previously stated, there is no legal requirement for offer letters or contracts and the legal requirement for time accounting records is not what most people think it means. All it means is that DOL can maybe fine the employer for bad records (which does not help the employee). Alternatively, if the employee sues the employer the employer's failure to keep good records hurts the employer, not the employee.
- But most importantly is that based on what you have said, there is every possibility that the employee is legally Exempt, meaning no paid overtime and no time accounting requirement.