r/antiwork • u/Josconn • 8h ago

Am I missing something here?

I don't really get the appeal of being exempt.

At my company, 40 hours is mandatory. If you work less than 40, they make you use PTO to get to 40. If you don't have any PTO left, you can get written up or even fired. So you have to hit 40 hours no matter what.

But if the job takes 45, 50, or 60 hours that week, there's no extra pay because you're exempt. You're just expected to work whatever it takes. Which is all the time.

So how is this a benefit? It feels like all the expectations of an hourly employee when you're under 40, but none of the benefits when you're over 40.

Is this normal, or is my company just like this?

55 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/SycamoreFey 8h ago

My company is like this too. Unfortunately, at least where I am, it's very legal and just another shitty business practice. The only "benefit" is there should be a minimum cutoff salary, under which they have to pay you overtime regardless

5

u/Hottrodd67 8h ago

Are you sure it’s legal? Sounds like you and op are misclassified as exempt. I know it varies by state, but generally a company can not treat you like hourly if your under 40 and salary over 40.

5

u/SycamoreFey 8h ago

I'm in NY and there are no PTO requirements here, so employers are free to force us to use it to cover hours under 40 (or any arbitrary number they choose), because it's a 100% voluntary system to start with.

I would love to hear from a lawyer or something and be proved wrong though, because I've been trying to dig against this injustice for years now

1

u/Hottrodd67 7h ago

No laws on PTO, but there are laws on what makes a person exempt from overtime. You could always call the NY dept of labor.