Staffing expenses often eat into an organization’s profit margins. Many businesses negotiate wages aggressively when hiring to keep them relatively low and may also schedule workers carefully to limit or outright eliminate overtime hours.
Overtime pay for hourly and non-exempt salaried workers costs a company 150% of the usual hourly wage of those workers. Many organizations have policies requiring pre-approval for overtime to avoid unexpected labor costs.
Can employers with overtime approval policies refuse to pay workers who do not follow the right procedures?
Workers deserve pay for the time worked
Employers must comply with New York state wage laws and all relevant federal regulations. If an hourly worker performs more than 40 hours of work in a particular week, they should receive overtime pay for all time past the 40th hour worked. The company’s policy does not eliminate overtime wage obligations as established by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state laws.
Disciplinary action related to unauthorized overtime is potentially permissible. Companies can write up workers who violate overtime policies, including the hourly employee who picked up a shift or stayed late, as well as the manager on duty who may have allowed them to stay clocked in past the 40th hour for the workweek. However, employers cannot refuse to pay for the time that a worker has already performed job functions.
Working with an employment law professional may be necessary in cases where employers refuse to fulfill overtime pay obligations because of company policies. Employees who understand their rights can better fight back against their employer’s decision to withhold pay required by law.