Legal Question in Employment Law in Massachusetts
Unfair Treatment
I work within a for-profit school in admissions.I work with 2 others in the dept. and my boss.My coworker(who was hired at the same time) on numerous occasions has taken many sick days, has been arrested for A&B and possesion of cocaine and has been awarded time off due to court time,therapy and being a single parent. Her pay has never been docked or made up. When I had become very ill at work my boss gave me a hard time for leaving and taking sick days that I am entitled to.The next week my boss demanded that I make up the time that I missed for being out sick even though I had used my owed sick days, which = the same time. In making up the time the week after I accumulated overtime 47 hours and was told that I would not be getting paid for the overtime I worked. My boss has several times referred to me as the b**** in a laughing.My other concern is that we have been told that we are salary employees even though we still fill out time cards, our form issued to the payroll company says hourly. We are mandated to work 44 hours each week as a normal week and I have never recieved any overtime over the past 8 months.Am I under law being harrased by my boss and is the act of not paying overtime against the law.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Unfair Treatment
1. You should call the Wage and Hour administration at the Attorney General's Office regarding overtime. Without knowing your position, I can't determine if you are exempt or not. However, being paid a salary is not determinative - it depends on other factors, including how much freedom you have to do your job the way you want to.
2. See if school has grievance procedure and grieve your bosses unequal treatment.
3. Report his swearing to the EEO officer.
I don't believe you have a claim for sexual harassment-the law has a strict standard as to what constitutes sex.haras.
Good luck!