Making under 50k (in the US) and don't get extra for overtime? You might, soon.

[mjr]

Are we somewhat confusing "hourly" with "salary"?

I mean, it's relatively easy to figure out an hourly rate from salary. Just salary divided by 2080. So per s_stabeler's information, that breaks down to $22/hour. "Time and a half" would, therefore, be $33/hour.

I could, in theory, see some companies lowering salaries and still working their employees 50 hours a week.

I mean, you could take someone making $65K per year, drop them down to the $47,476, make them work 50 hours a week, and still come out ahead.

I think this is why some people like to do independent contracting. Even though it's more of a hassle as far as the contracts, taxes, health insurance, and so forth. That, and they can charge LARGE sums per hour, work a bunch of hours, and make a LOT of money doing their own thing.

Consider a contractor who charges $125/hour for their services. If they worked "full time", their potential salary (before taxes and such) is $260,000/yr. Even at 10 hours a week, that's $65,000 per year -- before taxes and such.

And "independent contractors" can (and often will) work longer hours, because they're getting paid more, generally. But often that's because they want to, not because they have to.

[s_stabeler]

I don't think they will, actually. Why because the companies likely too pull that kind of bullshit either pay managers below the minimum the new rules introduce already- so they would need to increase salaries in order to push them over the cap- or said employees are senior enough to make it an actual problem to screw them over.

also, it's worth noting that an independent contractor might be able to charge more than an employee, but they have quite a bit more costs- and they can't necessarily charge as much as you'd think. Plus, their work hours don't necessarily correlate to billable hours. (one way i've seen it put is that an independent contractor must be good at all of:
1 the job they charge for
2. marketing
3. billing
and on top of that, they can only charge for the time spent on the first one. And on average, an independant contractor charges twice the hourly rate of an employee. Oh, and an independent contractor only get those benefits they can pay for themselves- health insurance would be entirely self-funded, aside from any government subsidy, no employer matches in a 401(k), no PTO, nothing.

[mjr]

I don't think they will, actually.

I really don't think most companies would, either. But I do think it's theoretically possible.

It wouldn't surprise me, though, if a company or companies somewhere had their finance departments at least "look into" it for certain employees.

Although working longer hours can be counterproductive for a number of reasons. People don't work as well when they're tired. They make mistakes, which leads to duplicated work, which leads to more costs.

Studies have shown that productivity declines beyond 40 hours, anyway.

In my field (software engineering), books have even been written detailing how long hours lead to sloppy, inefficient code.

So this may (eventually) be one of those things where companies eventually buy into the studies and "catch up" with the research.

[mjr]

Wtf? Do they not understand what salaried means? The government should have no business in OT. Either negotiate better when you get your job or deal with it. America is just becoming less and less friendly to businesses. And considering the government taxes the shit out of OT, it's not even worth it.

To add to that, I heard/read somewhere that some "Millennials" are now asking for "safe spaces" AT WORK.

I mean, I get asking for benefits like snacks, health insurance, 401k stuff, remote work, "cool" technologies, and things like that.

But "safe spaces"? Get real.

[s_stabeler]

That's separate- and you get unreasonable people everywhere- but I would be curious as to if they mean people going out of their way not to be offensive- as in, people banned from disagreeing at all- or if they basically mean that some measures are taken to enforce not offending people (for instance, if you notice a Muslim member of staff praying, don't yell at them to get back to work. Or, if you know someone is Hindu- who believe cows are sacred- it might be a good idea not to eat beef in front of them if you can help it. Unreasonable would be banning beef from the cafeteria entirely.)

basically, "safe spaces" as in, a space where you don't have to put up with being harassed are fine, "safe spaces" where you are free to harass others are not.

That. and there seems to be a misunderstanding of the purpose of salary. it ISN'T to allow an employer to get free work by requiring you to work ridiculous hours while only being paid for 40. it's to allow for situations where the number of hours is unpredictable- you get paid a flat rate regardless of hours worked, and if the hours happen to be over 40, you get no more, but if they are under 40, you don't get less. Or that's the way it's supposed to work in a sane country. In America, I know that companies can dock pay if you work less than 40 hours. Plus, they can require you to work more than 40 hours. Everywhere else in the world, AFAIK, they can't do that. ( in the EU, if you don't opt out, there is a cap of 48 hours. if you DO opt out, there is a cap of 60 hours. That's in the amount of hours per week you can be made to work in any particular week- I dont think they can mandate more than 40 hours every single week)

[mjr]

That's separate- and you get unreasonable people everywhere- but I would be curious as to if they mean people going out of their way not to be offensive- as in, people banned from disagreeing at all- or if they basically mean that some measures are taken to enforce not offending people (for instance, if you notice a Muslim member of staff praying, don't yell at them to get back to work. Or, if you know someone is Hindu- who believe cows are sacred- it might be a good idea not to eat beef in front of them if you can help it. Unreasonable would be banning beef from the cafeteria entirely.)

I'm assuming it's the same kind of stupid "safe space" that is rearing it's ugly head more and more on college and university campuses here in the U.S.