Change in Work Hours - Please help Texas

[prettyirishgirl]

I have recently excepted employment after being laid off for quite some time. I was very excited to get back to work. The company has an incredible benefits package and the pay is very good. I am in a position with a lot of responsibility and is considered high profile (federal security checks, credit check, etc.) After being offered the position I printed out a copy of the posting to keep for future reference. I have now been there for one month and have yet to perform any of the duties that were in the job posting, mostly due to time spent on another project that was a mess because of neglect and misappropriation. I was made aware that this would be part of my job description during my face to face interview and that it would jeopardize the majority of my time. Throughout the last month I have heard from other employees how happy they are that I have not been scared off yet. My position has had a high turn over with the average person staying for only a week. As I was leaving Friday for the weekend I was called into my supervisors office and told that they were going to change my work hours. I accepted this position as a 8 - 5, M-F, with opportunity for overtime. I drive just over 3 hrs round trip with out additional compensation to commute to work ( we live in a very small rural community where you must travel for work). I have no problem with that, it was my decision and am use to long drives. The new hours that they have told me they were switching me to are as follows:

M: 8-7
Tu:8-6
W: 8-3
Th: 8-3
F: 8-5

Not only is this a huge hardship, but it will keep me driving a lot at night, on icy roads. Our companies work hours are the standard 8 -5 with one of the entities we manage occasionally working late nights on M & Tu. According to our Q&A Dept, they have never assigned these hours to anyone. When I told my supervisor I would have to discuss the change in work hours with my family before I could commit to them I was told "I need you to work when I need you to work." They have also told me that I can not receive any over time and I need to do all of my work related training through our online training center at home on my own time, uncompensated. Can they do this? Especially the change in hours worked.

Thank you in advance for your help

[cbg]

Unless you have an honest to goodness, legally binding and enforceable contract that guarantees your job duties and your hours, they can change either at any time that suits them. Sorry.

[Pattymd]

Relative to "no overtime" and "training on your own time", what type of industry is this (not its name) and what are your job duties (not your job title)?

[prettyirishgirl]

We are a large company that manages and oversees state agencies to ensure the proper use and distribution of state funds to recipients through various state programs.

Job duties so far (not even close to the job description posted) are as follows:

Intensive distribution, tracking, and inventory of incentive and aid funds for various state run programs. General office and clerical responsibilities. Verifying accuracy and authenticity of vouchers before fulfilling the requests. Use of Quicken to cut requested checks and invoices. Manipulation of specialized industry specific software program. And of course being yelled and cussed at by angry would be recipients that do not have the proper paperwork or cases open.

[DAW]

Is this a private sector employer? One that is not governmental in nature?

The rules for governmental employers are very different then those for private sector employers. I read what you said about governmental agencies, but that by itself is not important. For example, a private high school and a public high school operate under very different labor law rules, even though they are both high schools. A public high school is subject to the governmental rules and the private high school is not.

[Pattymd]

It's not impossible that the Administrative exemption may be in play here.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/comp...nistrative.htm

[prettyirishgirl]

We are a private consulting firm that manages and audits the government firms on a contractual basis.

[DAW]

So private employers tend to be subject to normal MW and OT rules unless one of the many exemptions apply. Patty cited the most obvious exemptions that your employer might be using.