Boss promotes all hourly employees to salary, workers find out 6 months later that he lied: 'Because he was now “salary,” we didn’t see compensation for those extra hours'

Author image for Isabella Penn
Isabella Penn
Jun 28, 2024 8:00 PM EDT

It sounds like this boss isn't going to have his job for much longer. These hourly employees work for a nonprofit where they do manual labor outside all day long. Their boss announced to them that they all were being promoted to salaried employees, and the team couldn't have been more excited. Who wouldn't be happy about a promotion? Being salaried means you can finally take PTO time without the guilt of taking a day off for yourself and being unpaid. That's a huge win for the OP (Original Poster) and his wife, who are struggling to make ends meet. None of the employees thought much about it, as they never had a reason to not believe their boss. Until the entitled boss made one little mistake. An employee noticed that his paycheck was a whole week short. But how does that happen when you're on salary? Spoiler: it doesn't. 

Advertisement
  • 01
    . r/ r/legaladvice • 10 hr. ago loppyrae My husband was told he was on salary for six months. HR just told him he's not.
    via u/loppyrae
  • 02
    My husband works for a nonprofit organization in Tennessee. They do a lot of labor-intensive work with chainsaws, prescribed burns, pesticide application, etc. Some projects span across hundreds of acres of land. His
    via u/loppyrae
  • 03
    boss told him about six months ago that their entire team (of four people) was "promoted" to salary. This has translated into insanely long work days. He clocks in at 7am and sometimes won't get home until 8pm.
    via u/loppyrae
  • 04
    However, because he was now "salary," we didn't see compensation for any of those extra hours. We were under impression that we were just SOL. However, recently, his paycheck was short an entire week. His boss had
    via u/loppyrae
  • 05
    "forgotten" to submit a week on his timesheets. Obviously, we thought this was fishy and questioned HR how a mistake like this could happen when he was on salary. She just informed us that he was never on salary. He is an hourly worker.
    via u/loppyrae
  • 06
    His boss (the leader of the team) has been having them submit their timesheets directly to him, then he "approves" them and sends them to HR. My husband never had a reason to doubt his boss's words. The rest of his team is also under the impression that they are salary. Now we have
    via u/loppyrae
  • 07
    reason to believe that his boss was tampering with the numbers before they ever reached HR. Do we even have a leg to stand on here? Can we pursue back wages? We haven't been doing well financially and I want to make sure we even have a case before contacting a lawyer.
    via u/loppyrae
  • 08
    DangerPotato BogWitch . 2d ago Your husband's team has been misclassified. He should pull together all documentation he has and file a wage claim with the state DOL. I'd also say he should start looking for another job, because the settlement might put the organization under.
    via u/DangerPotatoBogWitch
  • 09
    • too_many_shoes14 2d ago If his job duties are primarily manual labor like you're describing, he can't legally be classified as salaried exempt in the first place. That doesn't fall under any of the exceptions in the FLSA. Is he doing this labor or mostly supervising others?
    via u/too_many_shoes14
  • 10
    • loppyrae OP ⚫ 2d ago He is doing the manual labor. His boss is the team leader in charge of the assignments (such as scoping out land and talking to landowners.) My husband and his team members are the ones who actually carry out the labor.
    via u/loppyrae
  • 11
    Sea-Buy6750 • 2d ago Where are you located? How was he told that he was salaried?(is there any documentation of this? Email?) What specifically is in the timesheets? (hours?) I want to make sure we even have a case before contacting a lawyer Contact immediately. Many employment lawyers will give a free consultation. Do not communicate with his employer (HR, boss, anyone) before doing this. Gather everything that he has in written form, and also write down any verbal communication (including date
    via u/Sea-Buy6750
  • 12
    DonnyDonnellan . 2d ago When he contacts a lawyer, he should be sure to mention that the company did this to multiple employees. Lawyers who handle these kinds of cases are generally more interested if there is a the prospect of a class action case or multi-plaintiff case.
    via u/DonnyDonnellan
  • 13
    texas_accountant_guy . 2d ago His boss (the leader of the team) has been having them submit their timesheets directly to him, then he "approves" them and sends them to HR. This here is a key piece to this. How were the timesheets submitted? Email? Text? Paper? If email or text, there is a record that can be given to HR or a lawyer (depending on how you want to proceed) to prove that the supervisor has been breaking the law.
    via u/texas_accountant_guy
  • 14
    thisistherevolt . 2d ago Get an employment/labor lawyer yesterday. And sign up your husband's coworkers to the same one. Wage theft is THEFT and Tennessee has some nasty laws regarding that. When HR themselves are telling you the boss lied, you've got a gift wrapped case. Good luck.
    via u/thisistherevolt
  • 15
    Cheezburger Image 10367012096
    via Tirachard Kumtanom

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

salary boss antiwork employee drama job work coworkers Horrible Bosses hourly employee reddit thread Reddit company business entitled people employment in the workplace
Scroll Down For The Next Article