My employer, a major USA food production company that typically runs its plants 24/7 and expects its employees to work mandatory overtime, may be guilty of unpaid wages, and I would like your thoughts on the matter.
I work in North Texas on one of two production lines at the plant, and have done so for seven years (two years on the original line in question before they switched the schedule and gave them extra pay for nights, five years on the line I’m currently on that gets no extra pay for nights)… I’m working on the night shift Saturday-Wednesday, 7pm-7am, with a swing shift during the day on Friday which is 7am-7pm. I used to work on the other production line but switched when my boss asked me to do so, stating I would more easily be promoted to a shift lead and eventually get on the day schedule, which something I’ve been wanting so I can spend more time with my children and have a more normal schedule, yet has never been an option at all. I have to work this job to support my family in this economic climate, as it pays bet well with the overtime and enables me to save for my sons’ futures. Note that this boss is the is in charge of both lines. He is the superintendent. Both production lines used to run a three shift revolving schedule, 24 hours a day. Almost four years ago, the production line that I am no longer working on switched to four shifts, two night shifts and two day shifts. This meant less hours for them (48 one week, 36 the next, repeating) but having the luxury of not working swing shifts, which really throw your schedule off. This is neither here nor there, sorry…
When they switched this schedule for the other production line employees, they started paying the night shift employees $1 an hour extra on that line. Note that they have the exact same job title as me, yet they get an extra dollar for every hour they work for the night shift. This was all the brainchild of the HR department. I have been working nights this entire time at the same plant alongside these employees and have not got that extra pay. I am trained and capable on every station on both lines, though switching back to the other line has remained an impossibility for me as other employees have gotten the positions that they want (nepotism, favoritism!) My production line was promised that pay when they eventually changed our schedule (never happened), so seeing as how it’s paid as incentive for working nights, would this not fall under some kind of unfair wage violation?
The employees that work on my production line were told that we would be switching to this new schedule that the other line did, but that never happened. Those of us on my line have been working 60 plus mandatory hours a week this entire time while the employees on the line next to ours have been getting paid more to be there at night alongside us, while also having a much more humane schedule. I feel this is extremely unfair and the company may be in violation.
Sorry for longwinded description, just wanted to be thorough. Thoughts?