Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois

I am required to travel 128.8 miles at least 4 days a week for my job. My main hours of work are from 8:30-5:00. I was told that if my clinic ( I am a medical assistant) ends before 5:00 ( even though I won't get home until well after 5:00) that I have to use my PTO time for the difference to 5:00. My concern is that when you use PTO in my office they do not pay you OT for working more than 40 hours because you used PTO. Can they do this? It just seems like they are trying to not pay the OT. Also, many times I will leave my home at 6am and not get home until 6-6:30pm and will have never received a lunch break or any other breaks. When I have questioned my employers about not getting a lunch I was told to "take something to snack on between seeing patients." At my main office we get a 30min lunch break and a 15 minute break....when I turn in that I didn't get a lunch they only pay me for 30 minutes.


Asked on 6/25/13, 5:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

It really has to do with your terms of employment including but not limited to whether you are an exempt or non-exempt employee. If you are exempt you are effectively on salary and the rules are different. Non-exempt (primarily hourly wage earners) have overtime...protection. And PTO varies. HOWEVER: generally an employer can not force you to use PTO if THEY control the hours of operation and shut down early. Based on some of the responses you've been given it sounds like you are being treated as an exempt employee. You may need to sit down with an attorney and go over your total job situation to get a handle on this.

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Answered on 6/28/13, 8:00 am


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