An employee is eligible for getting overtime pay if he or she has worked more than 40 hours in a week. However, most companies ignore this rule and try to get as many hours as possible with their employees or workers. Only a few of the workers realize that they are being exploited and approach Toronto employment law firms to have justice. Most of the workers are not aware of this fact or they just simply accept this form of exploitation in fear of losing their jobs.
Common manipulations in Overtime pay
According to the observations of De Bousquet Toronto, there are three major types of scams or manipulations companies would employ to cheat the workers of their overtime pay.
- Misclassification – In any company or industry, the workers are classified into two groups – exempt workers and non-exempt workers. Non-exempt workers, if work for overtime, should receive overtime pay from the company without any regulations. However, some companies illegally place the name of a worker in the exempt list so that they don’t have to pay those extra wages. This is strictly against the rules and the worker can sue the company by the help of employment lawyers Toronto.
The common way to make an employee or worker illegible for overtime pay is to place them under the class of managerial employees or workers. But, in reality this is not the case and the company would save a lot of money by placing their workers in such positions without their notice.
- Chinese Overtime – The Chinese worksheet is for those workers who have fluctuating timings and their timings are noted so that a set target is met in order to pay them. This is not suitable for those who come to work on a regular basis. Toronto employment law firms explain that Chinese worksheets take average of the work hours and pay accordingly to the workers. This is in contrast to the workers who come to the work place on a fixed agreement.
- Calculating the work hours – This in another commonly manipulated factor that goes unnoticed by most of the workers. The income is changed based on the day and time at which the worker is working and it is calculated at the end of the week or month. Further, these calculations are revised every now and then, making it very difficult for the workers to understand what they are going to get. Many companies follow this policy and the workers think that it is fair, but it is not so and they can approach employment lawyers Toronto to deal with the problem.
- Company Policies – There are some really interesting company policies such as no payment during lunch breaks, no payment during training period, no payment for overtime, no payment for the time taken to put the gear on and off, etc. that seriously dent the number of hours worked by a worker. Such policies are against the law and the workers can retaliate against it as well.
These are some of the common manipulations that an employment lawyer can save the worker from. Further, the lawyer ensures that the worker will get his full wage and the compensation by the company for cheating him or her.