Help Wanted: Nonprofit's $2 pay cut is probably legal

DEAR CARRIE: I work for a nonprofit that supplies emergency housing for the homeless. Earlier this year our employer told us it was closing the Nassau County location for economic reasons. The agency offered us positions in Suffolk but at $2 less an hour. So we will have a longer commute and less money to pay for it. Can the agency legally reduce our wages for reasons that have nothing to do with employees? -- Feeling the Pinch

DEAR FEELING: It may be legal, said attorney Howard Wexler of Seyfarth Shaw in Manhattan.

"So long as your hourly rate of pay is at or above the minimum wage after the cut and your prior rate of pay is not fixed by any employment contract or collective-bargaining agreement," he said, "there is nothing unlawful about your employer's decision to reduce all employees' rate of pay for economic reasons."

The minimum wage in New York is $8 an hour and will rise to $8.75 on Dec. 31.

Some employers, such as government contractors, have to ensure that their employees' wages remain above minimum wage to comply with local ordinances.

"It should be noted that some local governments have passed living-wage ordinances above the minimum wage or may also require a higher rate of pay for the employees of certain government contractors," Wexler said.

One more thing worth noting is your commute. Although it adds insult to injury to cut your pay and extend your commute, your company doesn't have to provide you extra compensation for your higher costs.

"An employee who travels from home before the regular workday and returns to his/her home at the end of the workday is engaged in ordinary home-to-work travel, which is not work time," Wexler said.

DEAR CARRIE: If an employee worked a 42-hour week and eight of those hours were for a vacation or personal day, am I required to pay that person two hours of overtime or does he have to work more than 40 hours to get overtime pay? -- O.T. or Straight?

DEAR O.T.: The latter is correct. Overtime is based on hours worked, not on paid time off. So in the scenario you described the employee worked just 34 hours and the paid day off took him over the 40-hour mark for the week. Because of that, you don't owe him overtime for any of those hours.

Here is what federal labor law says about overtime and paid-time off:

"If your employer allows you to take time off for a holiday, a vacation, or because you are sick, the time off, even though you are paid for the time, is not hours worked and need not be included in the total hours worked for overtime purposes."

DEAR CARRIE: If I quit my job in New York to move out of state, could I qualify for unemployment benefits from the New York Department of Labor? My husband will remain here for now. -- On the Move

DEAR ON THE MOVE: Don't quit your day job if you are depending on unemployment benefits to tide you over. Generally, if you quit, you don't qualify for unemployment benefits.

You might have qualified if your spouse was transferred out of state and you planned to quit to follow him. A provision in New York State law allows the "trailing spouse" to collect unemployment benefits if the person meets certain other eligibility criteria. But for now, if you quit, you lose the right to collect benefits.

Go to http://1.usa.gov/1y68OVv for more on paid-time off and overtime.