[iron]

somehow, i stumbled across this today (not sure what led me to look into it). http://statelaws.findlaw.com/washington-law/washington-wage-and-hour-laws.html

[JPH]

I'm no expert on the topic, but FWIW I am an engineer. In our office (civil engineering office) any of the PEs or young engineers that are on the track to become PEs get paid as you described, which is paid for every hour, but not time and a half for overtime. Drafters, admin staff, etc that are not technically "professionals" (or on that track) get time and a half for overtime hours worked. It's the "exempt" vs "non-exempt" deal, I've pretty much always just taken it at face value.

[iron]

hmm, interesting. yes, i seem to recall some language about exempt/non-exempt. guess i'd need to find that paperwork! my company is small, so when you deal with "HR" you're dealing with the owner...

[Randito]

[InFlight]

I'm a manager at a large local company... Hourly paid employees are non-exempt and must be paid Over Time. Salary paid employees could be except or non-except. Generally Professionals employees are exempt and not paid overtime. Of course any applicable Union contracts can change these conditions. Edit. This is actually the Fair Labor Standards ACT . Exemptions from Both Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay 1.Executive, administrative, and professional employees (including teachers and academic administrative personnel in elementary and secondary schools), outside sales employees, and employees in certain computer-related occupations (as defined in DOL regulations); 2.Employees of certain seasonal amusement or recreational establishments, employees of certain small newspapers, seamen employed on foreign vessels, employees engaged in fishing operations, and employees engaged in newspaper delivery; 3.Farmworkers employed by anyone who used no more than 500 “man-days” of farm labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year; 4.Casual babysitters and persons employed as companions to the elderly or infirm. Exemptions from Overtime Pay Only 1.Certain commissioned employees of retail or service establishments; auto, truck, trailer, farm implement, boat, or aircraft sales-workers; or parts-clerks and mechanics servicing autos, trucks, or farm implements, who are employed by non-manufacturing establishments primarily engaged in selling these items to ultimate purchasers; 2.Employees of railroads and air carriers, taxi drivers, certain employees of motor carriers, seamen on American vessels, and local delivery employees paid on approved trip rate plans; 3.Announcers, news editors, and chief engineers of certain non-metropolitan broadcasting stations; 4.Domestic service workers living in the employer’s residence; 5.Employees of motion picture theaters; and 6.Farmworkers. Partial Exemptions from Overtime Pay 1.Partial overtime pay exemptions apply to employees engaged in certain operations on agricultural commodities and to employees of certain bulk petroleum distributors. 2.Hospitals and residential care establishments may adopt, by agreement with their employees, a 14-day work period instead of the usual 7-day workweek if the employees are paid at least time and one-half their regular rates for hours worked over 8 in a day or 80 in a 14-day work period, whichever is the greater number of overtime hours. 3.Employees who lack a high school diploma, or who have not attained the educational level of the 8th grade, can be required to spend up to 10 hours in a workweek engaged in remedial reading or training in other basic skills without receiving time and one-half overtime pay for these hours. However, the employees must receive their normal wages for hours spent in such training and the training must not be job specific. 4.Public agency fire departments and police departments may establish a work period ranging from 7 to 28 days in which overtime need only be paid after a specified number of hours in each work period. Back to Top

[JPH]

Found a document: http://www.lni.wa.gov/WorkplaceRights/files/policies/esa95.pdf

[AR]

This is a problem here. It seems specifically bad in Washington State. If a person is hourly, they better get it done in 40 hours, or it's your ass. If a person is salary, they better be available at all times, or it's your ass. A person can be fired for any reason under any condition. And a person can walk from their job at any time. As if a person in the U.S. could not do that at any rate. Yep, good jobs here, just sign your soul on the dotted line.

[Randito]

[AR]

Minus a plane manufacturing plant, unions are gone for the most part here. As you noted. If the tech giants unionized here it's anyone's guess what would happen. It's hard to unionize hundreds of thousands of "Guest" H1B workers, that are even more terrified to lose their job and be sent "Home". The whole thing is really nauseating.

[Chico]

Loved it years ago as a bottom level grunt working at Ocean Spray. Represented by the Teamsters. Worked a Thanksgiving holiday running fresh berries through. Triple time!

[Malachai Constant]

Overtime rules are very strong in Canada, you could not even open an email when not at work.

[iron]

[InFlight]

Iron, As a Structural Engineer you would almost certainly be considered to be except from overtime rules. Engineers are almost always considered except, as they are professional employees with extensive training, and make independent decisions. I'm both a ME & and an EE.

[AlpineRose]

There's another word for working long hours without pay. It also starts with an S and ends in a Y. "Salary" is the modern version of it.

[Randito]

Back when I worked for Boeing and I was a member of SPEEA, the running joke was that if SPEEA ever called for a strike, many engineers would quit the union: "I've got too much work to get done"