Retail & fast food NY · NJ · FL
Some retail chains and fast-food franchises hand out “assistant manager” titles to avoid paying overtime. The title is not the test. The duties and the salary are.
HOW THE PAY GOES WRONG HERE
Each of these may be a claim under federal law or the law of the state where you worked. The oldest weeks fall out of reach as time passes, so the clock matters.
To skip overtime the employer must prove three things. Your main job was managing. You regularly directed two or more other workers (or the full-time equivalent) and had real say over hiring and firing. Your salary met the New York threshold: $1,275 a week in the city, Long Island and Westchester, or $1,199.10 elsewhere. In New Jersey and Florida the federal level, $684 a week, applies.
Counting the drawer before you clock in, and cleaning after you clock out, is work time.
A thirty-minute break deducted from every shift is unlawful when you worked through it.
Register shortages, damaged stock and uniform costs cannot be deducted from wages in New York. In New Jersey, withholding outside a short permitted list is unlawful. Under federal law, which governs Florida, a deduction for the employer’s own costs may not bring your pay below the minimum wage or cut into overtime.
New York City’s Fair Workweek Law adds scheduling protections for workers at fast-food chains with 30 or more locations and at retail stores with 20 or more employees.
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Retail & fast food
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