Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia

My fiancee works for a large chain restaurant as a salaried Store Manager, and currently works anywhere from 70-92 hours a week, when he is only supposed to work 55-60 hours. He only has one shift supervisor, when he is supposed to have four to five of them, and only has enough crew to barely cover a schedule. So, if an employee calls out for any reason, my fiancee has to pick up the slack.

The district manager is supposed to be in charge of hiring new staff, but he is very lazy about it (or is greedy, as he gets bonuses for keeping low numbers). He rarely lets the store managers hire, but they are in charge of the interview and training process.

My question is this: Since my fiancee is working this abundance of hours, and is almost always left with doing the job of an hourly waged associate, is he entitled to overtime pay? He was told that he would get something called "chinese overtime", but has not gotten a dime over his regular salary, and i"m not so sure that chinese overtime is legal to begin with.

Also, before he earned the title of "Store Manager", he was an hourly waged shift manager who, for six months, was the acting store manager. The original Store Manager left the company, and my fiancee acted as store manager for six months before he actually got the promotion. Should he be receiving back pay, or is that something to be left in a dream?

I'm not too familiar with the fair labor laws, but there are some very intelligent people here on Answers, so I came here first to seek some guidance.

Thank you in advance for any advice!


Asked on 5/22/12, 10:37 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

"Chinese overtime"? Sounds more like Chinese slave labor. And, no, I'm afraid

your boyfriend will be waiting a long time for that extra compensation that was supposedly to come his way for all those extra hours worked.

It is often the practice for businesses to give an employee a supervisory or

managerial title but then require that the employee work many hours in excess of 40 for a given week and with no extra pay beyond the employee's managerial

salary which they are allowed to do under U.S. Department of Labor rules

and regulations since the employee in this situation is no longer considered

hourly compensated and therefore entitled to time and one half compensation for all hours worked in excess of 40 in any given week.

And, no, unfortunately, as for back pay for an employee who works

in a supposedly higher position as an acting store manager or supervisor, that

too is often a promise never fullfilled unless the employee is protected

by an enforceable contact or collective bargaining type of agreement which

ensures that the employer will follow through on this promise.

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Answered on 5/22/12, 9:34 pm


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