Banking Hours Instead of Overtime Pay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always get time off in leu of OT. It's fine with me. Some weeks I work 70hrs, then other weeks 30hrs. It all evens out in the end. I'm pretty sure it's legal. My MB does it all the time with his government job. It's hour for hour.

A govt salaried job is not the same as hourly employees. Read the regulations. Hourly employees are legally entitled to overtime after 40 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boss works for the government in a somewhat high profile position. She has to keep things legal. She absolutely shocked me when she told us (her nanny team of 3) that she will not pay extra OT anymore for the hours we work beyond our contracted hours. She says we have to take time off instead.

It's illegal to bank hours. It's illegal to not pay OT for hours worked over 40. I told her this and she doesn't care.

The nanny team are going crazy, because we cannot work out on how to take our time off because no one is allowed to cover the other, otherwise it would create a snowball effect.

My big question is... because OT pay is 1.5x, should we then get 1.5x time off? So if we worked an additional 2 days, we should get 3 days off in trade.

Take the time off and let her worry about coverage.

[Anonymous]

What she is saying is not legal. You should have the option of either the OT or the time off.
Having said that, I work for a local government and sometimes I have to work OT or holidays. I can either take time and a half in money, or take it in hours.
So if I work 12 hours on a holiday then I bank 18 hours in my comp leave bank.
So if you agree to do the hours, then less then should be at time and a half.

Side note, why 3 nannies? How many kids ? Do you provide 24 hour coverage so hours for sleeping count as work hours?
Just being nosy

[Anonymous]

She is a fed govt employee only and makes that kind of money? Is she independently wealthy? Rich spouse?

Anyway, time to start job hunting and in the meantime, no pay, no work. So if she doesn't want to pay the legally required OT, then you leave the minute your shift is over. She isn't going to be home to watch her kids, or next nanny won't be there or whatever, then np, you take them to her or her spouse, you drop them off and you go. Tell her you are doing so to help her so she is not engaging in illegal activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always get time off in leu of OT. It's fine with me. Some weeks I work 70hrs, then other weeks 30hrs. It all evens out in the end. I'm pretty sure it's legal. My MB does it all the time with his government job. It's hour for hour.

This is not legal.
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/overtime

Your employer should either pay you for overtime hours the second week. Or to save money, she could pay you for 40 hours the second week and get a second nanny to cover the 30 extra hours.

If she has a government job, she knows the rules. You could so easily get her fired (which I assume you would not), but you need to know your rights. Your MB is a SALARIED employee with the government, you are an HOURLY employee and whether you work for a private individual or government it is still the same. Overtime at 1.5 for hours worked in one week over 40 hours.

Please understand the difference between salaried and hourly employees. Your MB needs to understand that if she does not.

[Anonymous]

This is OP.

Thanks for the info. My boss is very wealthy due to her husbands family. There are 2 nannies on duty M-F (I also work overnights during the week), and 1 on the weekend.

She demands 24/7 care. Are annual salary is decent (we work incredibly long hours for it), but our hourly wage breaks down to roughly $15 per hour.

This last weekend she again stated that she doesn't care if she is being illegal, she said "I pay you all a fortune!!!!). We don't want to quit, we want her to understand that if she requires us to work beyond our guaranteed hours- she needs to pay OT. We are all piling on the banked hours, and it hard to find time to take off. And when we do, we don't have the extra pay that is owed to us to really enjoy the time off.

How can we change her mind? Is there a way to do it without getting her in trouble?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP.

Thanks for the info. My boss is very wealthy due to her husbands family. There are 2 nannies on duty M-F (I also work overnights during the week), and 1 on the weekend.

She demands 24/7 care. Are annual salary is decent (we work incredibly long hours for it), but our hourly wage breaks down to roughly $15 per hour.

This last weekend she again stated that she doesn't care if she is being illegal, she said "I pay you all a fortune!!!!). We don't want to quit, we want her to understand that if she requires us to work beyond our guaranteed hours- she needs to pay OT. We are all piling on the banked hours, and it hard to find time to take off. And when we do, we don't have the extra pay that is owed to us to really enjoy the time off.

How can we change her mind? Is there a way to do it without getting her in trouble?

You need to let her know that the three of you are a united front. Tell her that you expect to be paid legally going forward and if she insists on breaking the law, the three of you will quit and she will be reported to the local wage and labor board. You can't "change her mind" but you can tell her what you will and will not tolerate, and what the consequences for treating you unfairly will be.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing wrong, morally or legally to not allowing someone to work more than 40 hours and thus preventing them from earning OT. If you want to earn OT find another job that lets you work 60-80 hours a week. I know Comcast installers can earn OT, especially working holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing wrong, morally or legally to not allowing someone to work more than 40 hours and thus preventing them from earning OT. If you want to earn OT find another job that lets you work 60-80 hours a week. I know Comcast installers can earn OT, especially working holidays.

Kindly read the thread so you have an idea what youre commenting on. OP and her fellow nannies are being asked to cover a 24/7 schedule between the three of them. Since there are more than 120 hours in a week, they ARE working more than 40 hours. Their MB wants to give them comp time rather than OT, but they are all racking up comp time faster than they can use it because of the schedule demands. None of what is happening is right, legally or ethically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many jobs do comp time vs. overtime. I have a tuff time believing a gov't official in less she has a very wealthy husband has three nannies.

UNLESS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For all federal employees I know who can get overtime, they can either get time off (hour for hour) or overtime pay (at 1.5 rate). I suspect you will be following the federal payout schedule and will only be getting time off at the regular rate (one hour per each hour worked).

Nannies are not FED employees and need to be paid per the FLSA which prohibits banking of overtime for hourly workers.

[Anonymous]

Are you all live-in nannies? Or you live out?

If live-in, OT rules don't apply. If live out, do you actually come in during night hours and watch over the sleeping kids?

I still don't get math with 3 nannies and overtime: M-F nanny one works 6 am - 2 pm, nanny two works 2 pm to 10 pm... If they are live out presumably parents can sleep in the house 8 hours with sleeping kids (nannies being professional and all surely will sleep train kids properly) and if kids are sick, well parents can maybe pay attention to them for a few hours. The weekend nanny basically has 40 hours to cover 48 weekend hours...

So what's the OT for? What's the typical schedule?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you all live-in nannies? Or you live out?

If live-in, OT rules don't apply. If live out, do you actually come in during night hours and watch over the sleeping kids?

I still don't get math with 3 nannies and overtime: M-F nanny one works 6 am - 2 pm, nanny two works 2 pm to 10 pm... If they are live out presumably parents can sleep in the house 8 hours with sleeping kids (nannies being professional and all surely will sleep train kids properly) and if kids are sick, well parents can maybe pay attention to them for a few hours. The weekend nanny basically has 40 hours to cover 48 weekend hours...

So what's the OT for? What's the typical schedule?

This is not a blanket rule. 1)It depends on the laws of your state and 2)This is only true if the live in element of the job is for the benefit of the nanny. My guess is that OP and her fellow nannies cover the overnight hours in shifts, but they do not actually live at work, and are therefore live-outs nannies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you all live-in nannies? Or you live out?

If live-in, OT rules don't apply. If live out, do you actually come in during night hours and watch over the sleeping kids?

I still don't get math with 3 nannies and overtime: M-F nanny one works 6 am - 2 pm, nanny two works 2 pm to 10 pm... If they are live out presumably parents can sleep in the house 8 hours with sleeping kids (nannies being professional and all surely will sleep train kids properly) and if kids are sick, well parents can maybe pay attention to them for a few hours. The weekend nanny basically has 40 hours to cover 48 weekend hours...

So what's the OT for? What's the typical schedule?

This is not a blanket rule. 1)It depends on the laws of your state and 2)This is only true if the live in element of the job is for the benefit of the nanny. My guess is that OP and her fellow nannies cover the overnight hours in shifts, but they do not actually live at work, and are therefore live-outs nannies.

Agree - live in nannies in MD get overtime for example under state law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always get time off in leu of OT. It's fine with me. Some weeks I work 70hrs, then other weeks 30hrs. It all evens out in the end. I'm pretty sure it's legal. My MB does it all the time with his government job. It's hour for hour.

Nope nope nope. You can document and sue for unpaid back wages. Im an employer and know the law.