Legal Question in Employment Law in New York

Overtime

I'm writing on behalf of myself & 7 others all of whom work 9:30am-5:30pm. In our dept overtime (paid at time and a half) has always been on a voluntary unrequired basis. 2 new managers were hired, the office just went to a 24/7 schedule & we just received an email indicating that we're now required to do OT (paid at time and a half) to cover all shifts including the midnight shift. When we were hired we were not told that overtime was required. In fact the dept director said that he wants his employees to be able to go home at 5:30. He also said that this was an environment that encourages its employees to have outside non-work related interests. Here's part of what our manager sent us via email:'Ongoing holiday coverage and coverage for unexpected or scheduled days off for other members of the team, especially weekend and overnight, will always be necessary and everyone's cooperation is needed and appreciated.' AND 'With 11 holidays and with 3 shifts per holiday, the attached list identifies the time slots that we'll need coverage for. Everyone is expected to cover approximately 3 to 4 of the time slots on the attached list.' In our estimation this isn't OT it's shift rotation. Can this be required of us? Thanks.

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