How safe is the 40 hour work week in the USA?

[LottomagicZ4941]

How safe is the 40 hour work week in the USA?

Got to discussing this over in joke land A.K.A. "Just For The Fun Of It" http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/sh...ted=1#post8885 but it may be a more aproprate discussion here.

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My employer claimed we would get more time off with our family if we went to 12 hour days.

Well I have done the math and they lied.

Use to work 40 hour weeks. Five days of eight hours. Now they want us to work 3 day on 3 days off 4 days on 4 days off. This is 182.5 days of working a year. 182.5 times 12 is 2,190. There was a rumor that we would not get overtime for our long week of 48 hours. And it turns out the rummor is true. We are on a 28 day cycle and we will not earn ovetime unless we work over 168 hours.

They claim they are going to "give" us an extra 44 hours of holiday time. 110 - the 44 "given" = 66 hours getting jiped.

How many hours do you work a week and do you get overtime?

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Magic

[Peg]

It's sad that they can get away with this but the fact is they can. Years ago, hubby worked a job where you stayed over night one day and worked 8 hours the next. They did not pay you for the overnight, just 8 hours of it. It took getting even more ripped off in his pay for hubby to call wage and labor and start asking questions. They ended up having to pay for the last 5 years that the employees spent the night because they were required to be there.

I worked a job where you didn't get paid for lunch, but yet you weren't allowed to leave the work site.

I now work only 30 hours a week, but some weeks get more. Even weeks I have worked over 40 hours, I get paid straight time. Needless to say, I'm not willing to work over 40 hours.

[A Karenina]

I'm an accountant - read: anal. Paid breaks were not calculated.

At my company, the work time is 36.25 hours per week plus 2.50 hours in paid breaks = 38.75. (2015 hours annually).

On average, I work about 45 hours per week plus another 5-10 hours per week from home. I'm salaried, so no overtime. But, it works both ways. If I need to leave early for a doctor's appointment or an emergency, I'm still paid for the full week. At holidays, they usually push us out the door early - so the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I'll work about 6-7 hours and then go home.

[Sophie]

I work for the post office.

40 hour weeks, 5 days, 8 hours each day
(Not what I work, but that is different).

Anything over 8hrs per day up to 10 hours, is overtime, time and a half.
Anything over 10 hours in one day is double time.

anything over 56 hours per week, is double time.

[LottomagicZ4941]

"I worked a job where you didn't get paid for lunch, but yet you weren't allowed to leave the work site"

Don't know if it is federal or state but my cousin got Dairy Queen fined 2k when she left.

She was in high school and they would have the kids clock out and study when it was slow. If your not permitted to leave then you should be on the clock.

Good jobs are so hard to find.

My own dad is against me on this one. He says for what I get paid I am just being a trouble maker to complain.

Lotto
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MagicZ4941

[Paula]

Well we are doing here an averge of 55-62 hours per week, per employee. Wages range from 16.00 to 24.00 per hour, overtime and lunch breaks included. I am an accountant who puts forward 50 hours weekly into the business. We are self employed, our type of work would never be completed in a 40 hour work week, although we are working on increasing our people so there is less over-time to pay, but - my employees want the overtime? As winter approaches we scale back to 40 hours weekly for about 2 months. I would have to say 40 hours per. week is perfectly safe.

[LottomagicZ4941]

Your kind of counter dicting yourself if you work over 40 most of the year.

How is the 40 hour work week safe?

My pay check is looking a tad larger so perhaps we are getting paid straight time for the extra howers. Don't know why they would not have just said this if it were the case.

However last month was only partial on the new system so perhpas they were still paying on the old system.

Needless to say I will be watching my checks carefully.

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[weeder]

Ive been self employed for the past 12 years.Learned when I was very young that overtime was a joke,taxes took it all. Ageeing to salary gave the employer liscence to work you to death. The name of the game is to get as much work from employees as possible, while paying them the least amount of money you can. There are very few employers whose outlook is to pay people well. Even fewer acknowledge the need for people to have free time, family time, or a life away from work.My belief is that anyone who has the ability to do so..should work for themselves.Its great :: I work about 60 hours a week, and right now I dont pay myself,because its a new business.I dont however, have anyone to be angry at.

[Paula]

our people keep this business running, they don't leave for a reason? 401 K, health benefits, and excellent pay. you must have worked for a poor company? or you didn't earn enough to pay well? we are not stingy in the least. I pay my own son who is 27 an annual salary of $80,000.00, and all my people have paid cells & 2 ways? Christmas bonus of $500.00 for all, a banquet for employees and subcontractors yearly? don't know what to tell ya? hope your makin enough to get by?

[lady cop]

we work 12 hour days/ or nights, 6 to 6. then we get ordered in on our days off half the time. we are reeling from exhaustion, mental and physical, and i consider it quite unsafe due to the nature of our work. we get one half hour break and that is it! we shall have a new sheriff in january and many of us are going to try to change this. but don't feel hopeful. i do not know anyone among my compatriots who is not completely wiped out most of the time.it's not only unsafe for us, it destroys quality of life, when we are off-duty we are too tired to enjoy life. most of us don't even know it's Christmas.