I work a full-time hourly job at a bike shop. Our state says that any work over 10 hours per day, or 40 hours per week should be paid time and a half as overtime. Usually, I work 4 10 hour shifts (Weds-Sat) in that period and stay below the threshold. Last week before payday, I worked an extra day on Sunday to cover for a coworker going out of town, so I bumped myself up to about 48 hours for my work week. I traded him for a Thursday the following week instead.
The issue is that my company seems to be slicing the “work week” as being from Sunday-Saturday, instead of Monday-Sunday like a normal person. They consider my extra Sunday as part of the “next week” and therefore not eligible for overtime pay. I will not go into OT this coming week because of the Thursday off. To me, I just worked 5 days in a row at almost 10 hours a day, and it certainly took a toll on me worthy of higher pay. In my view the company manages to get free OT work (exhausting consecutive days) out of their employees and not pay them for it as long as they volunteer to take a day off the following week.
What's the deal here? Did I screw myself over because I agreed to take the Thursday off? Next time should I only agree to cover the person if I keep all my normal shifts as well? I only agreed to work this extra shift because I thought I was getting overtime pay for it. Bummed out.