Locked: My Wife Keeps Working Lots of Overtime without Additional Pay

Welcome to life.

It's a salaried job. She's an admin so her salary makes sense to me, and $50K is above the median salary in Canada, so I'm not sure why you look down at her salary. If she doesn't like it, she can do what the rest of us do when we face this situation, leave.

Is she working too slow? Or working too fast, so they give her more task to do?

Sounds like she’s entitled to overtime (as well as being beyond the maximum daily allowable hours of work) and should gently bring it up with her manager, or just start leaving at 5 and see what happens...

If she's not getting paid overtime, then her employer is violating the Employments Standards Act. It's a misconception that because she is on "salary" that she is not entitled to overtime Only managerial positions are exempt. Read it here from an Employment Lawyer I Am Paid a Salary: Am I entitled to Overtime Pay?

What can she do about it? Tough question - She can definitely tell her employer that they are violating the Employment Standards Act and ask to be paid her outstanding overtime. And then maybe get fired without cause for causing a stink in the process. There's the law and there's reality. Some people like Trump, don't give a sh*t about the law.

https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-gu ... ertime-pay

Speak to hr. She should get ot unless she's part of the exception

She can always take her breaks and lunch. She's choosing to not take them.

ElectroJay wrote: ↑ Hi everyone,

My wife works as an admin in Toronto, and she constantly works overtime without getting any overtime pay.
Extra pay would be nice, but we'd much rather she just have her time back.

She's a salaried employee, so it's expected to not receive any OT pay.
However, she starts her shifts at 8:30am Monday-Friday, and she's supposed to be off at 5pm.
She never gets off at 5pm.
She typically gets off work at 6:30pm or 7:00pm.
Also, she doesn't take any breaks. She just quickly eats her lunch in about 20 minutes.

Essentially, she's working 10 to 10.5 hours every day and she's stressing out.
Her salary isn't even that great. A few grand shy of $50k.

What do you think she should do?

Usually salary positions that don’t get paid overtime have a bonus component. Does she get a bonus? Also for salaried employees should have peaks and valleys and not consistent overtime.

As others have noted, if it’s a stressful situation she should begin her job search immediately. March/April are great times to look for a job.

angryaudifanatic wrote: ↑ Welcome to life.

It's a salaried job. She's an admin so her salary makes sense to me, and $50K is above the median salary in Canada, so I'm not sure why you look down at her salary. If she doesn't like it, she can do what the rest of us do when we face this situation, leave.

Admin jobs that have consistent overtime in Toronto get paid more than 50k. The jobs you are talking about are 8 hour jobs with paid overtime.

abc123yyz wrote: ↑ Admin jobs that have consistent overtime in Toronto get paid more than 50k. The jobs you are talking about are 8 hour jobs with paid overtime.

It depends on the level of admin work. Low level admin work is not the same as an executive admin for a billion $ corporation.

angryaudifanatic wrote: ↑ It depends on the level of admin work. Low level admin work is not the same as an executive admin for a billion $ corporation.

Correct but low level admins at small companies aren’t working consistent overtime.

abc123yyz wrote: ↑ Correct but low level admins at small companies aren’t working consistent overtime.

Wholly disagree.

angryaudifanatic wrote: ↑ Wholly disagree.

Really? Consistently? I agree if preparing for an event etc. I’ve worked with multiple companies and for many companies in 2 different provinces and 3 countries and have yet to see it (with no ot pay).

abc123yyz wrote: ↑ Really? Consistently? I agree if preparing for an event etc. I’ve worked with multiple companies and for many companies in 2 different provinces and 3 countries and have yet to see it (with no ot pay).

I don't feel we're helping the OP in anyway with this sidebar, but will just comment that although I am in a senior leader position, the nature of my gender (I'm female) means I just happen to have water cooler chats with several other women at my various workplaces over the last 3 decades. Most of the women I converse with are admins, and several of which started at much smaller companies and have worked their way up.

The general consensus is that "good" admins, no matter at the lower level or at the highest executive levels generally work overtime, supporting the various directors and above that they do. It is a fair assumption, I think, to state that an admin typically works hand in hand with whomever he or she is supporting, and the nature of those managerial roles that call for an admin means that they, naturally, also work long hours.

This is part of the job. Personally speaking, I am blessed to have two executive admins as direct reports for me (one is more for my team), and both of them work very long hours as well. Are they paid more than $50K? Yes, but they also have 20+ years of experience as admins.

Is she putting in the overtime from home?

Everyone at my office is on salary (architectural firm), and we get paid overtime (or time off in lieu of, whichever we prefer). I would not want to put in those kind of hours for that type of wage.

Any reason why she can't leave at a reasonable time and leave the work for the next day?

The only job that doesn’t get paid OT is IT as it’s a grey area as stated in the ESA so your wife should be compensated accordingly either in pay or time off in lieu.

This is highly illegal for any company to do and can be fined.

I would suggest your wife speak with HR and have it put on record and on her file, from there if nothing changes I suggest you seek legal counsel.

Last but not least I would also suggest that she start looking for another job. If the company is not loyal you, then why should you be loyal to them.

Hope I'm wrong about this but if your wife is constantly putting in overtime at the office there is the possibility your wife is having an affair. Again, I seriously hope I'm wrong.