Answers Posted By Patricia Pastor

Answer to Serverance - calculation of eligible weeks

Severance is a discretionary benefit given to employees. An employer has no legal obligation to pay severance unless a contract was signed granting a specified amount of severance pay upon separation.

If your employer signed a contract providing you with more than 12 weeks of severance, or if you are being treated differently than other employees who separated from the company under similar circumstances, you may want to seek legal counsel. Otherwise, without more, your employer is entitled to limit your severance to 12 weeks.

posted Sep 24, 2009 5:47 PM [EST]

Answer to Why is my employer against me getting unemployment benefits?

With respect to benefits, an employer is not required to offer its employees benefits such as paid holidays or vacation time. However, an employer is required to pay overtime to non-exempt employees at the rate of one and one-half times your regular pay rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. More information is required in order to determine whether you are an exempt or non-exempt employee.

With respect to your employer's questions, he is certainly entitled to ask you questions related to your position. It is not clear from your question whether any of your employer's questions were improper.

Finally, it does not appear you were dismissed from your position. If you are laid off intermittently due to lack of work, you may be entitled to unemployment benefits for the period of the layoff.

posted Sep 1, 2009 4:03 PM [EST]

Answer to Comp time - legal issue or company policy?

Comp time

Exempt employees are not entitled to overtime under federal labor law. Therefore, if you are "exempt," your employer is not required to pay you overtime or comp time for hours you work in excess of 40 per week. However, your employer is certainly free to offer you additional wages or time off at his or her discretion.
The requirement you mention that comp time be taken in the same pay period applies to non-exempt employees. If a non-exempt employee works late on a Tuesday, for example, and is given Wednesday, the next day, off as "comp" time, that is lawful because the employee in that case has not actually worked over 40 hours during that pay week.
However, it is unlawful for an employer (other than a public employer) to offer a non-exempt employee "comp" time, i.e., accrued time off to be taken at a future date, in lieu of paid overtime.
Sometimes an employer will mis-classify employees as "exempt" when they are not truly exempt under the law. If you are truly exempt from federal overtime requirements, you are receiving a voluntary benefit from your employer when you receive overtime or "comp" time for additional hours worked.

posted Jul 1, 2009 09:47 AM [EST]