Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Don't count those chicken

We all know the proverbial phrase "don't count your chickens before they hatch."  I am glad I typically don't (but I am guilty of it on occasion!)

G-man did some field work for the office a few weeks ago on a Saturday.  12 hours.  He was told it would be overtime.

He was supposed to work at his second job that day, but they are aware of the nature of his work and that sometimes the office needs come first.  Plus, the OT rate is 4x the second job rate!  So he made arrangements with the second job, and happily did his field work.

That pay should have been on this week's paycheck, except it wasn't.  So he investigated, and someone in higher authority than the one who approved the overtime....changed it to "comp" time.  There was alot going on last week at the office, and they "forgot" to tell him of the change.

12 hours of comp time is meaningless to G-man.  At this point, he earns a 8 hours of vacation and 4 hours of sick time per paycheck.  He starts the year carrying over 240 hours of vacation (so even without earning anything...he starts with 6 weeks of vacation).  His entire year of vacation is considered "use or lose." You can't carry over more than 240 hrs from year to year, so you have to use it up.  He has a hard time using up the 26 days he HAS to use.  Now they just added in another day and half.

We are 7.5 months into the year, and I think he has used 7 or 8 days of his 26, now 27.5.  Especially with being on his own....he sees no reason to take time off.  He doesn't have anything to do.  And as much as we would love him to come home more, the financial aspect of the travel is cost prohibitive.  Driving is 13-14 hours, and alot of wear and tear on his body and the car, although it is the least expensive.  We may look into an overnight train so he can come home again before Christmas.

But comp time does nothing for us.  And we lost out on the pay he would have had at the second job.

The plan for the overtime pay wasn't anything sexy or exciting....add it back into the moving account.  Over the past year we have used about $1000 for house repairs and staging.  So this would have at least helped offset some of it. 

Glad I didn't have any REAL plans for that money!

14 comments:

  1. Is there any way he could work his 2nd job while taking days off from his main job?

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    1. We have talked about that and it is a possibility. It is great from a financial aspect. But defeats the idea of a day off. Of course he also has to figure out if he is taking off a day here and there or a week solid.

      The plan at the moment is for him to take off a week at Christmas/New Years, so that will eat up several days. I told him he should take off a few Fridays or Mondays too.

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    2. That was exactly my thought. Not sitting around doing nothing and uses up vac time.

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  2. I also have a use it or lose it vacation policy and since I was on Maternity leave most of the year I have an abundance to use now. I decided to take every other Friday off as me time. Maybe he should do that and go fishing or whatever he likes to do. It may help him decompress and cope with the current living situation with a little less stress.

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    1. Congrats on the baby!

      I keep encouraging him to take some time, but he feels like he will be in the weeds when he gets back. So he doesn't. And then we go through this use or lose stuff. When he was here, he did use more time here or there since the kids would have stuff.

      I told him to take a long weekend and go see his Mom. He said maybe.

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  3. Replies
    1. I am sure it "could" be changed....but it seems that comp time is the more standard practice, even though he was told it was OT. Same thing is pending for something else. A supervisor put G-man in for a "bonus" (usually ranges from $100-$250 dollars)....and during the review of it, it was changed to comp time. The supervisor who initiated it is trying to get it turned back into cash. But it could end up being 8 hrs of comp....so another day to use.

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  4. That's so frustrating! He was told it was overtime so it should be that. The same thing happens with my DH's work. He is told it will be overtime and its changes because they don't have that in the budget. Well then figure something out prior to having people work it.

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    1. Exactly. If he knew it was comp time, then he may have passed. He worked until midnight!

      I told him moving forward he needs it in writing that it will be OT.

      Funny thing was he stayed a little late one night to finish and his supervisor had him charge 45 min OT for it. Why couldn't they comp that! He would have just left a little early one Friday.

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  5. The state of Idaho did that several years ago to there employees. Comp time means nothing to me either as Hub's rarely takes any days off. It is just one more way for the employer to not pay.

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    1. Yep. 12 hrs of comp from a dollar value is the same as 8 hrs of OT. So we would actually need 18 hrs of comp to be equivalent....which is 2.5 days off. Which he doesn't want anyway!

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  6. Ugh how frustrating. Might that time off come in handy when it works out for you guys to move? He can come back and help get you guys all situated without it hurting the paycheck? Either way, how annoying. I'm sorry. :/

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    1. He gets 5 days of administrative leave for the move that doesn't count toward anything. He will probably take a few extra days though. Again...using his vacation doesn't effect his paycheck....it just eats up his use or lose.

      There is a very small chance he won't be here for the actual move. However that is a very very unlikely scenario.

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  7. WOW I've never hear of anyone or company doing that... I didn't think it was legal since OT is usually paid higher and now he's also at risk of losing that time off... oh well focus on selling the house! I would have moved already but I guess you know what you're doing, good luck!!

    HS

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