Exempt From Getting Paid
A reader recently wrote:
“I am on salary and work 24/7 I work my day shift then I am on call supervisor for our night shift they call me when they are having problems, which is all the time. Do I earn time off for being on call or do I just get nothing. I am supposdly exempt yet I can not fire or hire anyone without my supervisors approval.”
I will address the last statement first. Being an exempt employee has no correlation to hiring and termination policies.
However, the first part of your question is something many employees struggle with. I have written articles on the difference between an exempt and non-exempt employee - the pros and cons. Being exempt, you are paid a salary to work 40 plus hours. Depending what company you work for, the plus could range from 45 to over a 100 hours a week.
You need to give some serious thought about your future employment with this company. Being on salary does not mean working 24/7. It is completely unrealistic. Even if your salary was doubled, you could not work a full shift and be on call all of the time.
You need to have a chat with your supervisor and paint the picture for him. I doubt he takes calls after hours “all the time.”
Don’t trade time for hours off - that will not work.
Lastly, you need to hear the not so subtle message your employer is giving you. They do not value your work/life balance. I would seriously consider looking for a company that values you as an employee as well as a person.
Comment by Anonymous
“Lastly, you need to hear the not so subtle message your employer is giving you. They do not value your work/life balance. I would seriously consider looking for a company that values you as an employee as well as a person.â€
This is interesting advice. You are obviously cutting to the chase by asking the reader to “look for an escape routeâ€.
The implication being that there is no alternative; the employee has no possibility of exposing the problem to the employer and rectifying the issue. e.g. “The employer either realizes that the support chain is flawed, is under staffed or might not be necessary at all; resulting in a change of policy.â€
This advice might be an oversight, or worse, the advisor might be under the impression that it is either impossible to affect change, or “not worth exerting the effort required†to do so.
In situations like this, I have often overheard managers stating things like; “It comes with the territoryâ€, or “It’s an industry standard practiceâ€.
Well, if that is the case, it wouldn’t do the employee any good to “look for a company that values me as an employee as well as a person.  because they don’t exist. So, the only “real†thing that the employee can do is “stand up and make a difference.â€
Is the employee’s manager insulated from this situation (hey, I’m just doing what they’re telling me to tell you), or should they take an active role and take up the fight?
Comment by Anonymous
I tell the employee to involve the immediate supervisor in coming to a more agreeable solution. The employee in this case needs to stand up and be assertive, but respectful, to the fact that after working all day, the evenings and weekends are off limits except in critical situations. The employee should be ready to provide a list of situations to management which the employee and the employee’s family feel are acceptable to be called during non-work hours.
Lastly, should management feel this is unacceptable, then as a last resort the employee should determine if a move to another company would be an acceptable solution.
The grass is not always greener on the other side, but it isn’t always brown either.
Comment by Anonymous Jr.
I think in this situation, the employee should go to the immediate supervisor and open a dialog about the situation. Determine what is an acceptable reason to be called during off hours and present those to the supervisor. At this point, the employee and supervisor should be able to work through the issues and come to an acceptable conclusion. Remember to be assertive, but respectful. This may be a fundamental problem with the business that the supervisor cannot resolve which means the employee either has to follow it up the chain or look at an alternative solution.
I would only look for an escape route if the situation cannot be resolved. There are many things to consider when changing to a new job. Pay, benefits, location and job security. The grass is not always greener on the other side, but it may be less brown.
Comment by Eric
I think the advice by my readers is dead on. I really didn’t address “working the situation out,” mostly because I have a hard time with the fact that management would put the reader in this situation in the first place. My response is a bit intolerant and not complete.
Thank you for your comments and hope my reader has tried some of your recommendations.
It is hard to find green grass.