legal advantages for corporations salary vs hourly

[t0ad]

I work at The HomeDepot Austin Technology Center.

Today we had a reorganization. They are removing all the job classifications and replacing them all with 4. Level 1, Level 2, Supervisor, Level 3.
Level 1 and level 2 will be hourly employees. Nearly everyone will be put in those two classifications.

I am a Sr Systems Engineer and I had to reapply for my job. The job descriptions are generic and have nothing to do with what I actually do. I applied for both Level 3 and Level 2.

I am scratching my head trying to figure out what they are up to by doing this.

My thoughts are is is some kind of incremental change in preparation for the next step.

So My question is...

What advantage does the company have by doing this. Compensation will not be reduced. So if you make $80K a year and accept a level 2 position, your compensation will be $38.46 an hour.

There must be some legal advantage they are going to exploit.

any ideas?

 

[carrew]

If your hourly you get OT, if your salary your probably getting a larger bonus percentage. I have been both and I actually like hourly, since some times things are pressing and you work a 12 hour day, you get your moneys worth. Or special times when you have to travel on a holiday to work at a facililty that is on holiday shutdown. Then you get D 2x pay for OT.

 

[jerrad]

Salary means more work for less money.
I'm salary and I get 0 overtime. If I have to go to corporate for a week I get nothing in return. That's a huge savings for the company.
Not sure about legal stuff though.

 

[t0ad]

yep. I understand the part about OT, etc. There is a difference in benefits between hourly and salary and the way you are viewed by the company. Salaried employees are viewed as being professionals whereas hourly... not so much.

I am looking at it the other way and trying to make sense of it. Why are they doing this ? What is their next move ?

 

[jerrad]

yep. I understand the part about OT, etc. There is a difference in benefits between hourly and salary and the way you are viewed by the company. Salaried employees are viewed as being professionals whereas hourly... not so much.

I am looking at it the other way and trying to make sense of it. Why are they doing this ? What is their next move ?

I wonder if they are planning on trimming some fat off.
At my place they had all the employees fill out a sheet explaining their job duties. They would look to see who was doing what and then combining certain tasks to 1 person instead of 2.
Hopefully that's not the case.

 

[t0ad]

pretty sure something nefarious is going down...

trying to find out what legal advantage doing this gives them

 

[thomas91169]

Being hourly has its benefits. However, its also a pita, especially when all your managers bug out at 4:30, then you get a call and some bid has to go down within an hour, youre supposed to leave at 5pm but you have to get OT pre-approved, otherwise they might not acknowledge its necessity. So ultimately you just gotta go "**** it" and leave, and its just aggravating.

However, I hate punching in and out, makes me feel like im some mcdonalds employee. I like 5-10min of flexibility for when I show up. Punching a timeclock is for people who, on average, dont have to use their brains or deal with matters regarding critical thinking.

I have no issues putting in a 9-10hr day when necessary, coming in at 7:30 or 8am (whichever traffic dictates) and just making sure I at least work 8hrs, taking lunch whenever (not within a set time like hourly, just when i get hungry), and not having to worry about punching in/out. But also instead of the possibility of OT, just pay me a few G's more a year (that you wouldve paid me for OT anyways). Also nice thing about salary is if your company allows flex time, IE you work mon-wed 2hrs over, come friday yeah, sure you can leave around 2ish if you want. Of if they also really allow you to keep track of flex time, and use it in lieu of vacation hours. Work 2hrs over every day for a week, take a day off. Work a saturday? take friday off. My last company was like this, and it was awesome. Then it changed.........and that place turned real ghey real quick.

In Cali, state labor board dictates who is "Exempt" (Salaried) or "Non-exempt" (hourly) based on their duties/responsibilities/title. If they do re-assign you as hourly, they can also re-evaluate your pay. Though they can do that anyways if you are salaried (i know everyone at my current place prior to my hiring took a 10% pay cut) so maybe it just makes it easier if they just do it to hourly people at the time of the "reassessment". My last company moved shittons of people from salary to hourly and said "be lucky we dont reassess your pay scales" but in nicer words.

but yeah, sounds like they are going to trim some fat.

 

[Wishing4Cobra]

So how much will you be getting paid hourly?

 

[SNCBOOM]

Would your benefits be the same?

 

[t0ad]

works out to about ?? and hour... no term life or disbility otherwise the same

 

[SonicDTR]

Well, I figure with hourly they can trim back your hours and therefore you pay.

Only obvious reason I can see, but i'm sure they're corporate bean-counters found some other benefit to it.

 

[CobraBob]

Being hourly has its benefits. However, its also a pita, especially when all your managers bug out at 4:30, then you get a call and some bid has to go down within an hour, youre supposed to leave at 5pm but you have to get OT pre-approved, otherwise they might not acknowledge its necessity. So ultimately you just gotta go "**** it" and leave, and its just aggravating.

However, I hate punching in and out, makes me feel like im some mcdonalds employee. I like 5-10min of flexibility for when I show up. Punching a timeclock is for people who, on average, dont have to use their brains or deal with matters regarding critical thinking.

I have no issues putting in a 9-10hr day when necessary, coming in at 7:30 or 8am (whichever traffic dictates) and just making sure I at least work 8hrs, taking lunch whenever (not within a set time like hourly, just when i get hungry), and not having to worry about punching in/out. But also instead of the possibility of OT, just pay me a few G's more a year (that you wouldve paid me for OT anyways). Also nice thing about salary is if your company allows flex time, IE you work mon-wed 2hrs over, come friday yeah, sure you can leave around 2ish if you want. Of if they also really allow you to keep track of flex time, and use it in lieu of vacation hours. Work 2hrs over every day for a week, take a day off. Work a saturday? take friday off. My last company was like this, and it was awesome. Then it changed.........and that place turned real ghey real quick.

In Cali, state labor board dictates who is "Exempt" (Salaried) or "Non-exempt" (hourly) based on their duties/responsibilities/title. If they do re-assign you as hourly, they can also re-evaluate your pay. Though they can do that anyways if you are salaried (i know everyone at my current place prior to my hiring took a 10% pay cut) so maybe it just makes it easier if they just do it to hourly people at the time of the "reassessment". My last company moved shittons of people from salary to hourly and said "be lucky we dont reassess your pay scales" but in nicer words.

but yeah, sounds like they are going to trim some fat.

There is also a "Non-exempt" salaried classification. Meaning you are salaried but are entitled to overtime payment. In some cases a non-exempt salaried employee can have their week's pay adjusted down if they work fewer than 40 hours in that week. Usually, though, it has more to do with being paid for any overtime. Exempt salaried employees, of course, do not receive overtime pay.

OP, I wouldn't jump to any conclusions as to why your employer is doing this. Why not just ask your human relations manager (or your boss) why the change was made.

 

[WireEater]

I am OT Salary (X1.5 hourly pay kicks in once I hit 40hrs). I will be damned if I work my ass off for normal wages past 40hrs.

It would seem like people who are in the salary positions are probably in a more secure area of the company. It sounds like they are probably getting ready to cut some fat off the pork.

 

[N2DAMYSTIC]

To do what they did takes allot of time and money. No doubt they are expecting a payout in the end and some genius analyst has come away from it like a hero. To determine what angle they are coming from depends on what the actual change was. Were more people placed on Salary, or Hourly?

If Hourly then they are trying to seek better production by holding peoples paychecks accountable for the actual work they put in. If more people were placed on salary then perhaps they are looking to cut expenses. Salaried people are usually at the higher end of the pay scale and OT becomes an issue in this case.

 

[wvmystichrome]

I wonder if they are planning on trimming some fat off.
At my place they had all the employees fill out a sheet explaining their job duties. They would look to see who was doing what and then combining certain tasks to 1 person instead of 2.
Hopefully that's not the case.

Our company did this and they about took a dump in the floor when they saw a 6 1/2 page reports of the jobs I have done, still do, or am doing right at this time. They said no way. They found out WAY!

I am OT Salary (X1.5 hourly pay kicks in once I hit 40hrs). I will be damned if I work my ass off for normal wages past 40hrs.

Thats what I always said but for the last 20 years I have been doing just that. They took me off hourly and made me salary in 1990. Just so they would not have to pay me overtime. Back then I made almost as much as I do now but I work more hours now. Just like this 2 week pay period over 100 hours but I only get paid for 80. Plus we are supposed to get compensatory time for our overtime. Yeah right just try to take it. OBTW when we were preparing for Y2K I worked approximately 600 - 700 hours overtime that year and got NOTHING AND I DO MEAN NOTHING.

 

[Coiled03]

Thats what I always said but for the last 20 years I have been doing just that. They took me off hourly and made me salary in 1990. Just so they would not have to pay me overtime. Back then I made almost as much as I do now but I work more hours now. Just like this 2 week pay period over 100 hours but I only get paid for 80. Plus we are supposed to get compensatory time for our overtime. Yeah right just try to take it. OBTW when we were preparing for Y2K I worked approximately 600 - 700 hours overtime that year and got NOTHING AND I DO MEAN NOTHING.

So, they've been shafting you since at least 1990, and you're still with the same company? Not sure if that's the company's fault, or yours. :shrug:

 

[jcveron]

Our company did this and they about took a dump in the floor when they saw a 6 1/2 page reports of the jobs I have done, still do, or am doing right at this time. They said no way. They found out WAY!



Thats what I always said but for the last 20 years I have been doing just that. They took me off hourly and made me salary in 1990. Just so they would not have to pay me overtime. Back then I made almost as much as I do now but I work more hours now. Just like this 2 week pay period over 100 hours but I only get paid for 80. Plus we are supposed to get compensatory time for our overtime. Yeah right just try to take it. OBTW when we were preparing for Y2K I worked approximately 600 - 700 hours overtime that year and got NOTHING AND I DO MEAN NOTHING.

not trying to be an a** but thats your own fault for letting that happen.

 

[FISHTAIL]

I dunno, I kind of like being hourly myself. If I work 6 hours, I get paid for 6. If I work 12 hours I get paid for 12. If I work 8 hours on Saturday, I don't work Monday. I'm flextime, so I can show up anywhere between 6am and 11:30am and nobody cares. I don't have to punch in and out, and I can eat lunch whenever I feel like it. I have full paid health and dental benefits, and I get 20% of my yearly "salary" into my 401k without me having to contribute a dime.

My wife is salary, and she gets screwed on a regular basis. I would have to think long and hard about ever accepting a salaried position.

 

[JPD5801]

I wonder if they are reclassifying jobs in anticipation of the new Health Care law. By changing the way all the employees are titled, they may become exempt from some of the provisions of the law. I have read that a lot of companies with a large part-time workforce are scrambling to get around the law. Maybe Home Depot falls into this too?

 

[VirtualSVT]

I'm about to go salaried and I'm not really liking it. I'll make more if I only work 45 hours a week.

See I'm the nut that is the first one in the building and the last one out. I averaged almost 57 hours a week in 2009. I was hourly and I love me some O/T.

Basically you're salaried so you can be the companies time bitch.