Non-Custodial Parent Going from Hourly to Salary Right Before Pretrial Conference

[momtozoe]

My question involves child support in the State of: FL

We have had a temporary child support order in place for the past 4 years. I filed paperwork to petition for a modification of c/s (I don't have an attorney). The pretrial conference was scheduled for Nov 1, but amended by his attorney to take place Dec 2.

I got a text this morning from NCP letting me know that I would not get another child support payment until the end of November and that he was going from hourly to salary. A mutual friend of ours informed me later that he voluntarily did this to lower the amount of child support he would have had to pay had he been on hourly pay (he doesn't get paid overtime on salary and he works 55-60 hour workweeks) and that he plan to go back to hourly after he gets the support order at the lower pay.

Is there anything I can do or is he just going to get away with this?

[cbg]

There's a reason I am asking this question. What does the NCP do for a living? Be as specific as you can about his job duties.

[Dogmatique]

My question involves child support in the State of: FL

We have had a temporary child support order in place for the past 4 years. I filed paperwork to petition for a modification of c/s (I don't have an attorney). The pretrial conference was scheduled for Nov 1, but amended by his attorney to take place Dec 2.

I got a text this morning from NCP letting me know that I would not get another child support payment until the end of November and that he was going from hourly to salary. A mutual friend of ours informed me later that he voluntarily did this to lower the amount of child support he would have had to pay had he been on hourly pay (he doesn't get paid overtime on salary and he works 55-60 hour workweeks) and that he plan to go back to hourly after he gets the support order at the lower pay.

Is there anything I can do or is he just going to get away with this?

And with regards to child support - do you actually know if this is a voluntary or involuntary change?

Don't listen to mutual "friends". Don't listen to relatives. Don't listen to ANYBODY not directly involved with the situation.

[momtozoe]

cbg: He is an Operations Leader at an a/c plant.

Dogmatique: I am definitely keeping that in mind as the particular "bird" who told me that info is kind of a drama queen. I'd prefer to avoid drama alltogether...and that's part of the reason I didn't seek a modification 3 years ago when he was promoted..hate stirring the pot. I worked at the same plant 7 years ago and we had the option of choosing hourly or salary but things change all of the time. I have heard companies can implement salary change to their employees and this could be the case.

[cbg]

Mom, I need more than that. I'm going for something very specific here that has to do with employment law rather than family law, but it has a direct impact on whether he can do what your friend claims he's planning to do. But the job title doesn't tell me what I need to know. What, exactly, does an Operations Leader do?

[momtozoe]

I texted and asked him. He said he just found out yesterday. :/ Can a company do that with such short notice? Tell you this week is your last paycheck until the end of next month?

[cbg]

Maybe. But to know if they can or not I need to know WHAT HIS JOB DUTIES ARE.

Okay, sorry, that came out harsher than I meant it to. Let me explain what I'm after and why.

Any employee can legally be paid hourly. Any employee can legally be paid on salary. But only certain employees can be paid on salary without overtime.

All employees are either considered to be exempt or non-exempt. There is no other option. While people tend to think in terms of non-exempt employees being paid by the hour, and exempt employees being paid on salary, that's not actually true. Not all exempt employees are salaried; not all salaried employees are exempt.

If a non-exempt employee is paid on salary, they still have to be paid overtime. But an exempt employee, no matter how they are paid, NEVER has to be paid overtime, EVER. Under any circumstances whatsoever.

It is legal for an employer to pay an employee who qualifies to be exempt as non-exempt. It is legal to pay an employee who does not qualify to be exempt on salary, but only if they ALSO pay overtime when it is worked. (Certain exceptions apply but it is very hard to apply the exception legally and not all states permit it. Florida does but it's such a rare exception I have my doubts as to whether it's what's in play.) ONLY if the employee qualifies as exempt does overtime not have to be paid. While it is legal to change a non-exempt employee from hourly to salary, it is not legal to do it for the purpose of avoiding paying overtime.

As long as the employee makes more than $455 per week, the ONLY thing that determines whether they are exempt or non-exempt is their job duties. Not their job title, their job duties. You can call the employee the CEO, but if the job duties do not qualify to be exempt, then he's non-exempt.

In this case, if the NCP's job duties qualify him to be exempt, then the employer never has to pay him overtime and he can be changed to salary. FL state wage laws are very weak and there is nothing in either state or Federal law that would prohibit the change from being made at a moment's notice. If he does not qualify to be exempt, then while he can be paid on salary, the employer still has to pay him overtime if he works it.

Does that make more sense?

[momtozoe]

I know just a little, I'm afraid, about the duties of his position. Within the plant there are the "production workers" (this was his position in our original child support order). Above the production workers are the "Team leaders" who work in/oversee a particular team. They hold weekly meetings with the team and report problems/machine breakdown to Operations. Above that is the "Operations Leader" (his current position) The Operations leader oversees all of the teams and their leaders; they walk around the plant making sure the assembly line is moving at ever team base. I know they get a desk within the office and deal with a lot of paperwork. They have the authority to hire/fire employees.

I'm so sorry cbg, that's really all I know about the position...probably doesn't help much

[cbg]

It sounds as if there's a reasonably good chance that he can legally be considered exempt, though. If that's the case, then he is not due overtime even if he works 168 hours a week. And with Florida's weak wage and hour laws, there's really no reason they couldn't give him short notice of the change.

However, if he qualifies to be exempt, it's quite unlikely that his employer is changing him to salaried BECAUSE of upcoming support conference and even less likely that they'll be changing him back to hourly plus overtime afterwards. It benefits the employer to have him on salary - why would they voluntarily pay him overtime that they're not legally obligated to pay?

[momtozoe]

Thank you so much cbg for explaining this to me. My "googling" on the subject just had me more confused so thank you for taking the time to put it all into terms this girl could understand!