Dear Users… (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people) Part 10

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TragicMonkey said:
Well, it was during the workday so "company time"...but I ended up having to work extra hours for no extra pay to do all the work I couldn't do in that time, so I think it worked out to being on my time after all.
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Norman Alexander said:
Claim overtime, then. At least if they are going to torture you, you should get paid for it.
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TragicMonkey said:
I'm in America, overtime isn't a thing for most people here.
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It isn't a thing for most "exempt" (salaried) employees, but is required by law for hourly employees.

Unusually, three of the four places I worked as an engineer paid us overtime, although Boeing was only time plus $6.50, not time-and-a-half.
 
Trebuchet said:
It isn't a thing for most "exempt" (salaried) employees, but is required by law for hourly employees.

Unusually, three of the four places I worked as an engineer paid us overtime, although Boeing was only time plus $6.50, not time-and-a-half.
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Working the alternating shift schedule here. 12 hr shifts, 3 days on, four days off, four days on, three days off. That's 8 hrs overtime every 2 week pay period.
 
Sure the "rules" say you have to pay overtime.

The rules also say you can fire anyone at any time for no reason.

So it unpaid overtime can still be an expectation put on salaried employees.
 
I'm surprised that so many people in this thread seem to be paid hourly. I've been salaried for my entire IT career, from support to programming to unholy combinations of the two to whatever the heck it is I do now. (And those jobs have been across the whole spectrum of fanciness, it's not like they were all highly-paid and boast-worthy, so please don't think I'm being snobby about my frequently crappy jobs. Some of that pay was pretty damn low, it just was never paid by the hour.) I assumed it was just a standard IT industry practice to be salaried and not hourly.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I'm surprised that so many people in this thread seem to be paid hourly. I've been salaried for my entire IT career, from support to programming to unholy combinations of the two to whatever the heck it is I do now. (And those jobs have been across the whole spectrum of fanciness, it's not like they were all highly-paid and boast-worthy, so please don't think I'm being snobby about my frequently crappy jobs. Some of that pay was pretty damn low, it just was never paid by the hour.) I assumed it was just a standard IT industry practice to be salaried and not hourly.
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It is most standard in crap jobs. There are actual definitions for jobs that are exempt from overtime rules, but employers don’t have a lot of incentive to worry about those rules. Especially crappy employers.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I'm surprised that so many people in this thread seem to be paid hourly. I've been salaried for my entire IT career, from support to programming to unholy combinations of the two to whatever the heck it is I do now. (And those jobs have been across the whole spectrum of fanciness, it's not like they were all highly-paid and boast-worthy, so please don't think I'm being snobby about my frequently crappy jobs. Some of that pay was pretty damn low, it just was never paid by the hour.) I assumed it was just a standard IT industry practice to be salaried and not hourly.
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I was a hourly contractor when I was T1. When I received my permanency, I became salaried. In both cases penalty rates applied for working outside regular hours.
 
I've been on salary since 1984. In the UK we have contracted hours but unofficially you're expected to do that bit extra to get the job done. However we still got paid overtime once it went beyond a cutoff. Twice I've been on call for a few years at a time and got quarter time for that plus double time (in hour units) whenever I was called.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I'm surprised that so many people in this thread seem to be paid hourly. I've been salaried for my entire IT career, from support to programming to unholy combinations of the two to whatever the heck it is I do now. (And those jobs have been across the whole spectrum of fanciness, it's not like they were all highly-paid and boast-worthy, so please don't think I'm being snobby about my frequently crappy jobs. Some of that pay was pretty damn low, it just was never paid by the hour.) I assumed it was just a standard IT industry practice to be salaried and not hourly.
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I'd bet pretty hard that the general rule is:

- If you work directly for the company you provide IT support for you are probably salaried.

- If you work for a contractor/other distinct business that provides IT support, you are probably hourly.

I'm hourly (plus mileage and a monthly cell phone allowance.)
 
TragicMonkey said:
I'm surprised that so many people in this thread seem to be paid hourly. I've been salaried for my entire IT career, from support to programming to unholy combinations of the two to whatever the heck it is I do now. (And those jobs have been across the whole spectrum of fanciness, it's not like they were all highly-paid and boast-worthy, so please don't think I'm being snobby about my frequently crappy jobs. Some of that pay was pretty damn low, it just was never paid by the hour.) I assumed it was just a standard IT industry practice to be salaried and not hourly.
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I've always been hourly as a technician, again not strictly IT. It was only as a mechanical engineer that I was on salary.
 
Dr. Keith said:
It is most standard in crap jobs. There are actual definitions for jobs that are exempt from overtime rules, but employers don’t have a lot of incentive to worry about those rules. Especially crappy employers.
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Where I am now I was originally a subcontractor of this subcontractor. When I took the job the pay period was monthly and overtime was only payed OT rate for over 40 hrs a week averaged over the month long pay period. While against state law, I didn't mind as it was still 30% more than I was making before. 5 to 7 years later they started complying with the law which works out to 8 hrs of OT every two weeks. One of the guys always said if he ever left or got fired he'd sue them for the unpaid OT. I don't know if he ever did but it was about a year or so after he left that they started complying with the law. Never did the calculation of 4 hrs at regular rate every two weeks for like 5 to 7 years. I knew what I was agreeing to when I took the job.
 
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Trebuchet said:
It isn't a thing for most "exempt" (salaried) employees, but is required by law for hourly employees.

Unusually, three of the four places I worked as an engineer paid us overtime, although Boeing was only time plus $6.50, not time-and-a-half.
Click to expand...

TragicMonkey said:
I'm surprised that so many people in this thread seem to be paid hourly. I've been salaried for my entire IT career, from support to programming to unholy combinations of the two to whatever the heck it is I do now. (And those jobs have been across the whole spectrum of fanciness, it's not like they were all highly-paid and boast-worthy, so please don't think I'm being snobby about my frequently crappy jobs. Some of that pay was pretty damn low, it just was never paid by the hour.) I assumed it was just a standard IT industry practice to be salaried and not hourly.
Click to expand...

Dr. Keith said:
It is most standard in crap jobs. There are actual definitions for jobs that are exempt from overtime rules, but employers don’t have a lot of incentive to worry about those rules. Especially crappy employers.
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Yeah, I overlooked this when I made my original comment. US workers are much more at risk, and have few of the pay benefits other countries have as standard. I'm salaried, but all workers, salaried and hourly, in Australia have agreed work hours in legislation. Work beyond that is subject to overtime. This can get complicated for contract work and shift work.

e.g. I work in a public hospital currently, so my employer is the state government. We have an employee "agreement" with the state about working conditions and pay rates (among many other things), including overtime conditions. We also have rates stipulated for non-standard work days, e.g. working on Christmas Day (traditionally triple time).

arthwollipot said:
I was a hourly contractor when I was T1. When I received my permanency, I became salaried. In both cases penalty rates applied for working outside regular hours.
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There you go.
 
This is completely non-IT related but over the weekend the cleaning crew waxed all the floors and for the last couple days the buildings have been full of echoing sneaker squeaks and it is rather annoying.
 
JoeMorgue said:
This is completely non-IT related but over the weekend the cleaning crew waxed all the floors and for the last couple days the buildings have been full of echoing sneaker squeaks and it is rather annoying.
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That's why I can never understand how people can stand to watch basketball. That sound is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
 
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