I still get questions about pyramiding of overtime. Prior posts are here: 8/31/20; 12/4/17; 1/10/17; 4/1/16; 12/1/16; 1/2/13. Below are the most recent questions (in blue). Following those are my responses (in black).
Names have been changed to protect anonymity of the poster & their company.
From: Jane Doe, Esq.
Subject: Pyramiding of overtime
Message Body:
Good day –
I have been reviewing your blog posts during an adjournment of a contentious battle over overtime computation for employees working in a public penal facility. I am hoping you might have the time to provide some insight. If not that is okay, as your blog has already been very helpful in ordering my thinking on the topic.
Anyway, our collective bargaining agreement (CBA) does not contain “no pyramiding” language & defines overtime as:
Work performed in excess of 8 hours in any one workday is paid time and a half.
Work performed in excess of 40 hours in one workweek is paid time and a half.
Work performed in excess of 48 hours in one workweek is paid double time.
Going back years, the employer has been ignoring the hours over 8 in a work day and counting only hours after 40. Grievances were filed years ago – with delays due to hurricanes, changes of administration & most recently COVID, and so now resolution in favor of the officers will be quite costly.
Finally, we are proceeding to arbitration and the employer, who has never denied that they were wrong in ignoring the hours over 8 (there were fruitless attempts over the years to resolve that part at least) are now saying that what the union is asserting amounts to pyramiding overtime.
At the adjournment of the initial three days of arbitration, the arbitrator gave us a hypothetical to clarify our positions. She said: Suppose I have an employee working under these overtime provisions?
They work six days a week, 10 hours a day, and makes $1/hr.
How much money do they make per week?
For the union I proposed the following answer:
REG = 32 @ $1.00 …. $22.00
OT1 = 16 @ $1.50 …. $ 14.00
OT2 = 12 @ $2.00 …. $14.00
______________________________
DAY 1
DAY2
DAY3
DAY4
DAY5
DAY6
REG ($1.00)
8
8
8
8
OT1 ($1.50)
2
2
2
2
8
OT2 ($2.00)
The Employer proposed the following answer:
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Total
Regular
8
8
8
8
8
$30.00
Overtime
2
2
2
2
$2.00
Overtime 2
2
10
$14.00
Total
$46.00
Questions:
Is what the union proposes “pyramiding”?
If so, how likely can I muscle through the argument that the CBA for most of the effective period contains no “no pyramiding” language AND was renegotiated without change or clarification last Summer.
All the best, and thanks for the information you have already posted for folks like me.
Sincerely,
Jane Doe
Here’s my response:
Incidentally the objection of the employer arises partly out of the fact that these employees at different times work double shifts, getting them to double overtime before they have attained 40 regular hours. Example:
REG 8 8 8
OT1 8 8 8
OT2 16 16
The problem the employer has with that type of outcome, is that they have tied annual and sick leave accrual, as well as pension contribution, to every regular forty hours worked. We argue that there is nothing in the CBA (or local statutory framework) requiring them to pin benefits accrual to a particular hour based on compensation rate.
In other words, they are looking to prove our plain reading common sense tabulation as wrong because they don’t like the result. However, as I stated they didn’t seek to change a word of it at renegotiations.
Thanks again
Here’s my followup response:
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