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Are you a seasonal worker? Were you given a lot of extra hours over the holidays? If you made overtime you may want to double check just what you got overtime for.<\/p>\n
Most employees are unaware that overtime is NOT just based on hourly pay. If you are getting bonuses and or commission pay these should be factored into your overtime rate, this can add up in a big way if you are a sales person during Christmas!<\/p>\n
While this won’t apply to all employees and does not include those exempt from or not entitled to overtime, you should be sure you are getting paid correctly. We like to assume our company knows the laws and will always pay us accordingly, but unfortunately thee laws are broken everyday either unknowingly or in an attempt to save money.<\/p>\n
It’s your paycheck; don’t assume they are getting it right!<\/p>\n
If you are paid a piece rate, regular bonuses or commission they should be added in to your base pay BEFORE calculating overtime, it would look something like this:<\/p>\n
If you are regularly paid $10 an hour and you have been working 4 hours overtime each shift, you would expect to make time and a half or $15 an hour for each of those four hours right?<\/p>\n
WRONG, if you made $600 in commission during that week when you worked 60 hours you would divide that commission over the hours worked to determine your new hourly rate BEFORE calculating overtime.<\/p>\n
That means your actual hourly rate for the 60 hours was $20 an hour making your overtime rate $30 an hour NOT $15.<\/p>\n
Now you can see how this can add up quickly.<\/p>\n