California Overtime benefits Employers

Terri Reese from Vista, California was classified as an exempt manager. Her contract stated that she wouldn't perform the duties of hourly employees except in an emergency. As it turned out, every day was an emergency.

She was hired to manage the mess hall for the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton. Because Reese wasn't paid hourly, she wasn't paid overtime. For the better part of a year she performed menial tasks, working a minimum 60 hours per week. "I signed a contract with the military but they didn't see the big picture, there was never enough staff," says Reese.

"I think upper management knew about it all along, but they put the blinders on and let it happen. Staffing issues were a constant dilemma. I have a high work ethic and was hired to operate this business at all costs. So as manager, you don't just shut the place down because other people are inept and superiors won't do anything about it.

If my cooks didn't come to work, I did the job. My district manager knew that I was short staffed but he just told me to hang in there, I was doing a great job.
I was constantly called at home when someone wouldn't show up, usually at 3 a.m. I was promised a vacation and had plans; I had purchased plane tickets six months previously for my family but my husband and kids went away while I had to stay home and work. Other managers (there are 13 operations on the military base) quit without notice but I gave two weeks notice. They freaked.

Here's the kicker: when I gave my notice they promised me a new manager. After all this time. I didn't want to resign but they closed their eyes to what was going on in the mess hall and I had no choice but to quit. Before I left, I had an interview with the HR representative who admitted that I was performing in excess of 50 percent of hourly work tasks, and I should be paid. All I ask is to be compensated for the overtime hours I worked.

At the very minimum, say I worked only 50 hours per week, this adds up to 400 hours in a 10 month period. And we are on a time clock reporting system so there is no discrepancy in my hours: that is black and white; they can see how many clocked hours I worked.

They don't have a choice but to address my issues. If the company's payroll records are audited, they can see who did all the work in the mess hall - who was cooking at 3 a.m. - from looking at other employees logged in. From my perspective there is no issue of proof. But they are arguing whether or not I will be compensated.

I resigned February 8th and on my last day of work nobody was working an hourly rate. When I received my last pay check on February 22nd they said they were going to conduct an investigation. So far I have received no contact from them.

Before I was hired at Camp Pendleton I worked for Sodexho, one of the biggest food and facilities management services company in North America. Basically the same thing happened to me: I was hired as manager with the understanding that I would make a base wage of $40,000 per year with a 40 hour work week. But if you don't work 2-3 hours of overtime per day there is no way you can make $40,000 per year because they only pay $13 per hour. Without overtime my base wage was in reality $27,000. They didn't tell me this during the hiring interview. When I got my first check I asked what was going on. They told me I had to work overtime to make the salary promised to me.

Plus I had laborious job functions. I was cooking, unloading heavy palettes of food, lots of labor-intenstive work and no job functions that required management.

So I took them to court and I told the judge that I wasn't informed about having to work overtime. I went to court prepared. The next day I got an express check in the mail for the hours that I worked - I was only there for one month. They based it on an hourly rate plus time and a half for overtime. And I was awarded damages of $50 per day. I won my case because the judge said that I proved financial burden and hardship by having to work 10-12 hours per day."

Terri Reese stood up for her rights and she will do so again. If there were more people like Terri, perhaps employers and large corporations will stop abusing their employees and start paying overtime - what is legally owed to them. Or hire managers to do just that - manage.