Lots of Overtime = How Much Free Time?

May 26, 2009 9:07 AM

What should I do about my accrued overtime?

In the country where I'm working, and under the employment contract that I have, my employer is legally required to allow me to balance my overtime with time off from work.

I was not aware of this fact until recently, when my new boss brought the topic of my accrued overtime up. As far as I can recall, my old boss did not discuss the topic with me before he left the company.

Now I'm in a difficult position. I would have to take off almost 3 months from work in order to balance out the overtime I've accrued over the last 3 years.

Of course my employer is not too happy about that number, a fact that I can somewhat understand. He would like to reach a compromise on the number of hours I will take free.

On the one hand, I don't want to stick it to my employer, and I'm pretty happy with my job. On the other hand, I did work those hours, most of them were billed to my customers, and I didn't accrue that many overtime hours "on purpose" (with the intent of getting loads of time off).

What's a reasonable compromise? I've asked my employer to make an initial proposal, but would like to get some guidance on how to decide what kind of compromise is correct in this situation.

posted by Strumpf Marionette to work & money (17 comments total)

What compromises does the law permit?
posted by dersins at 9:17 AM on May 26

Can you have some portion of it paid out at your standard hourly rate, and take the rest as time off?
posted by olinerd at 9:19 AM on May 26

Could you simply deduct an hour or two each day? work 6 hour days instead of 8?
posted by royalsong at 9:23 AM on May 26

Employees at my organization who have accrued too much vacation time sometimes take off one day a week for 3-6 months. You might be able to negotiate a longer period - one day off a week for 12 months would be nearly 60 days of compensation hours.
posted by muddgirl at 9:26 AM on May 26

dersins: The law doesn't really permit any compromises, with one exception. The accrued time expires if I do not ask for it within 3 years of working it. So if I don't ask for the free time, the accrued overtime will eventually go away on its own.

olinerd: I could, but I'm trying to figure out whether I should simply give some of the hours away for nothing, or whether I should insist on my rights. As I mentioned, I have a pretty good job and a good relationship with the company, so I would like to be accommodating without giving away too much for free.

royalsong: If I did that, I'd be working around 5.5 hours per day for a whole year. Possibly do-able, but I'm not sure that my employer would be too excited about the idea.
posted by Strumpf Marionette at 9:29 AM on May 26

Ask to be paid for it. It's a great deal to them - you billed the hours (at more than you're paid to work them), and you'll be around to bill more hours (again at more than you're paid to work them).
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:35 AM on May 26 [2 favorites]

I'm trying to figure out whether I should simply give some of the hours away for nothing

Think of it this way: If you don't take full advantage of the hours offered, then in the future the company may feel justified in pressuring other employees to make the same offer for a smaller amount of accrued overtime. I see that happen at my company: "Well, Mr. XX is willing to work lots of uncompensated overtime, why won't Ms. YY?"
posted by muddgirl at 9:39 AM on May 26

I would take a few weeks of it, and then ask to be compensated for the rest at 1/2 rate (so for 2 months you get paid 1 month's rate).

Then you look accommodating but don't set a bad precedent for others and can get something out of the deal instead of just not working or letting your days expire.
posted by rmless at 9:44 AM on May 26

Think of it this way: If you don't take full advantage of the hours offered, then in the future the company may feel justified in pressuring other employees to make the same offer for a smaller amount of accrued overtime

Exactly, and you'd also be hurting potential new hires that don't get offered jobs because the company can more cheaply rely on uncompensated overtime. That law isn't just there to protect you; it's designed to regulate the entire economy so that it doesn't depend on people working overtime.

Unless there's a good chance of the law changing soon, your company needs to work out business practices that succeed under the law, and you wouldn't be helping them do that by going along with any plan that ignores the spirit, if not the letter, of the law, i.e. not asking for what you should get. A good relationship with your employer should not be threatened by you expecting your employer to follow the law.
posted by scottreynen at 10:10 AM on May 26

As people have mentioned, it is a bad idea not to take this overtime for a few reasons.

You can take extra time off. You need to *ask* for it within 3 years, not receive it (assuming your contract is as they say it is). Make sure there's a provision for having it paid out to you should you leave before it is all paid you.

You can take some or all of it as extra pay. This can be mixed with the first.

There may be some kind of donation program for employees who are sick as well, like donating vacation hours.

Any compromise that allows you to receive all the compensation over approximately the same period that you earned it (eg, if you have 3 years of overtime hours accrued, you should be willing to spread it out over 3 years) is reasonable, assuming that there is a way to ensure you will get it even if you quit, are fired, or terminate your employment in any way. You should also factor in further overtime you are accruing, so that when you've finally used up those 3 months of overtime pay you don't have another 3 months built up.
posted by jeather at 10:30 AM on May 26

I agree with the don't-compromise crew. Take every hour you earned off, and not a minute less. Doing anything else would set a dangerous precedent for you, your company, and all employees of your company.

The best thing for you to do would be to come up with creative solutions to taking the time off. Like, you agree to the amount of consecutive time you will take off (like three two-week vacations over the next nine months) and compensate for the remaining time off with work 6-hour work days, or four day work weeks. Or, you agree to the shortened amount of time you will take off, and work out a payment plan to recover the remaining time owed.
posted by jabberjaw at 11:51 AM on May 26

You are not in a bad position; your boss is in a bad position. Really, this would not have happened if your previous boss had told you or had managed his workforce differently.

You've earned the time, and it sounds like it's legally required. So, your current boss is in a pickle because of the previous boss's mistake. But, that's not your problem to solve for them. Take the time, or take full pay in lieu of the time.
posted by Houstonian at 12:02 PM on May 26

They know the law, or should. They owe you the time or the money. If you give them the huge gift of this time, and don't make them pay you, what will they do for you?
posted by theora55 at 12:26 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

I echo all the others and say that you should absolutely take the time that is owed to you. You can offer to do five day work weeks for X number of weeks plus a month off... or... take three months off sometime in the next year and use that time to take some college courses or something. Heck, if there's a professional development course or courses that you could take on your own dime that would benefit your employer when you come back, that sounds like a nice compromise. Or, get paid for your overtime, either directly or into your retirement account. If you don't have one then now is a good time to set one up.

Also, where is your country and how can I work there?
posted by amanda at 1:47 PM on May 26

You have to take it within three years, and you've accrued it over the last three years? So...some of it needs to be taken soon, some won't need to be taken for about three years, with the rest spread out between that, correct?

Three months in three years doesn't seem like too much time to take off to me. I'd take off two weeks over the summer and two weeks for Christmas over the next three years and leave it at that. If this is in addition to a normal 2-4 weeks of vacation per year, I'd add a spring vacation and a fall vacation.

Or take a three day weekend every weekend in the summer. Hmm, that sounds nice.
posted by lampoil at 2:23 PM on May 26

Take the time or get it paid out. DO NOT give it away for free. Clients have been billed for this work, the company has made plenty of money on these hours. They have no right to ask you to sacrifice these hours. If they made you work this overtime, you get paid for it. There are enough people who work unpaid overtime. I hate it. Find a way that makes you happy with either the time off / paid out or both, but don't give them a single dime back for free. They would never ever give you (or a client) hours for free. Why should you?
posted by defcom1 at 6:55 PM on May 26

Nthing the "don't compromise". You worked that overtime and the company got paid for that overtime. It's not your fault that your previous boss didn't tell you that you needed to be taking time off to balance it. Now that it's known, you should insist on getting the time off that you are due. (Or on being financially compensated for it at a reasonable rate, which here in California is time-and-a-half for hours worked over 40 in a given week. But it sounds like that may not be legally possible where you are.)

For what it's worth, I work in risk management in a department that handles all the employment practices claims for my employer.

Remember that this is a business relationship, a professional one. You and your employer are not friends, and you don't owe them (and shouldn't give them) any favors, like taking less than you are due. If they felt the need to let you go, odds are they'd find a way to do so just as fast as the law allows, and there wouldn't be any feelings of loyalty standing in the way. (Color me cynical. Like I said, we deal with the EP claims, which means I get a side view of the human resources department. For the record, the people in HR are not on your side, they're on your employer's side.)

You might try googling wage hour violation YourCountryName to see what comes up.
posted by Lexica at 9:09 PM on May 26