The 40-hour work week is the standard in Indiana and across the United States. When workers put in more than 40 hours, they can anticipate receiving overtime wages. Not every worker qualifies for overtime pay.
Those paid on a salary basis, as well as those who are self-employed, typically do not qualify for overtime pay despite putting in extra hours. However, hourly employees and some workers with lower salaries have a right to overtime pay.
Some companies will intentionally deny their workers the overtime wages they should receive through inappropriate business practices. How do businesses try to deny workers overtime pay?
They have a no-overtime policy
It is quite common for businesses to go against any worker receiving overtime wages. The company may specifically say that a worker must get approval from their supervisor or the corporate offices before working overtime.
While such policies are theoretically permissible, companies can only enforce them by preventing workers from performing overtime. Once a worker does extra work, the company has an obligation to pay them for that time regardless of the policy. If your employer denies you pay and then said you shouldn’t have put in overtime at all, they may have violated your rights.
They alter the time clock records
When someone has a few extra hours on their record in a specific pay period, their employer might alter the company time clock records to reduce the number of billable hours and prevent the worker from getting overtime wages.