Kokua Line
Kokua Line
What are the federal and state laws regarding overtime compensation? A former employer told employees that no one is compensated for overtime except for executive secretaries and those in unions. Is it true that if a company's policy states no overtime compensation, that's the end result, no matter what the federal or state laws are? There are situations
when OT can be deniedYour best bet is to call the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations wage-and-hour enforcement office, 586-8777, to see if the company was following the law.
The wage-and-hour law covering maximum hours worked (Chapter 387-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes) says that no employer shall, except as otherwise provided, employ any EMPLOYEE for a work week longer than 40 hours unless the EMPLOYEE receives overtime compensation for the extra hours at a rate not less than 1-1/2 times the regular rate he/she is paid, said Labor Department spokesman Pat Stanley.
Stanley said he emphasized the word "employee" for a reason: Under Chapter 387-1, it is defined as "any individual employed by an employer, but shall not include" more than a dozen categories of workers. Those NOT considered employees under this section are those who receive "a guaranteed compensation totaling $1,250 or more a month, whether paid weekly, biweekly or monthly."
So, it depends first on how much you were paid. There are other situations as well in which employers need not pay overtime.
Is it within a condominium's right to have mail canceled? One day, we got no mail because of the waxing of floors.
You should talk to your resident manager about making alternate arrangements for mail delivery the next time.
That's what's normally done in such situations, said Felice Broglio, spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service.
Typically, complaints about nondelivery involve cars parked around mailboxes, she said. But about a condominium canceling mail delivery -- "I've never heard of anything like this," she said.
I am a welfare mother of two living at Kuhio Park Terrace. I have been receiving training from the Family Investment Center at Hawaii Housing Authority to get a job. Recently, a rude teen-age boy was giving orders to computer users and students. When I asked who he was, the people there said he was the son of a staff member and had nothing to do for the summer. Can state employees bring their children to work and have them stay all day, especially if they are rude to their clients?
"We did investigate the situation even before (your) complaint" came in, said George White, spokesman for the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
"The problem was corrected," he said.
A supervisor stumbled onto the situation when she visited the center. The teen-ager was waiting for a ride home, White said.
Staff members were reminded of the policy that children are not allowed into program areas during the business day. The exceptions are at the very beginning or end of the day "if there are some commuting concerns," he said.
Mahalo
We were on our daily walk June 17 near Koko Head and Harding avenues, waiting for the traffic light, when it started to rain. All of a sudden, a car came to our side and a young woman said, "Take my umbrella." She said, "If you were my parents I wouldn't want them to get wet." Then she left. It happened so fast we didn't get a license number. I want to thank her for the umbrella. We made good use of it and did not get wet. -- Yoshi
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com
