is this a violation to labor laws and whistle blowers act

I am a assitant manager for a retail company. For the past 4 months we have been short a manager and my store manager and i have been working anywhere between fourty to fifthy eight hours a week. in the mist of this my store manager neglected her duties and began to only take part in making sales. therefore i had to fill in there too. after frustration i went to my district manager and hr rep and spoke to them when i said i was going to quit. they spoke to me saying thing were going to look into the issues in store and hire my associate as a temporary manager to lesson the hours. however after reading a email my boss accidentially left open i saw she was planning to replace me after our staffing issues were resolved. could this be a violation to the whistle blowers law. yes, my numbers at work have dropped a bit but i have no documentation on bad performance or anything else upon any nature. also, while working these extra hours i dont get to take lunch breaks all the time and often work two to three days where im the only manager on duty for several hours where a lunch break isnt optional. in addition to working a twelve hour work day each week, this  is one of the days i cant take a lunch. i think this is a violation of labor work laws, if i were to quit and file for unemployement do you think i would get it. or what do you think i should do/

Many a manager slot in retail is an excuse not to pay hourly wages and make you work long hours--- --silently double check if you are likely truly exempt on non exempt

Generally if you quit you have dug yourself a very big if not fatal hole as to unemployment.

Much better to get fired--but not for cause.

drew  i am exempt i checked i would like to quit and file a claim with the labor board not for the hours but the lack of a break.

I repeat my warning---to quit is a generally fatal issue as to UC.

ChristineMH:

i would like to quit and file a claim with the labor board not for the hours but the lack of a break.

Federal law does not have provisions or meal breaks for your job.  NJ only has requirements if you are under eighteen years of age or if you are a nursing mother who gave birth within the last year.

If you quit, it is almost certain you will not qualify for unemployment insurance compensation (UIC).  In situations where a person voluntary quits, UIC is rarely granted and that is in cases of constructive discharge (for which there is a high burden).  Quitting because you don't get breaks -- especially when there is no legal requirement for breaks -- would not be considered constructive discharge.

ChristineMH:

i am exempt

Please describe how you know you are exempt.  Sometimes retail employers get it wrong when it comes to exempt verus nonexempt classifications. 

ChristineMH:

however after reading a email my boss accidentially left open i saw she was planning to replace me after our staffing issues were resolved. could this be a violation to the whistle blowers law.

Complaining about your hours to HR and a district manager is definitely not covered under any whistleblower statutes.

Be careful about reading email that your boss "accidentally" leaves open.  While sure, she should lock her computer when she's away from it, you have no right to read her email.  If she were to find out and fire you, something like that could possibly rise to the level of misconduct that would disqualify you from any UIC.

What % of your work is devoted to non exempt type work?  25% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Who said you are non exempt?

I am salaried at 40 hours. in my policy and procedures book it states " Exempt employees(generally those paid on a salaried basis). it also says my guidelines for pay period is the following "management must be scheduled for 42.5 hours per week. this represents 40 hours of worked time and 30 minutes of unpaid lunch each day for a total of 42.5 hours per week. Does this matter?

ChristineMH:

I am salaried at 40 hours. in my policy and procedures book it states " Exempt employees(generally those paid on a salaried basis). it also says my guidelines for pay period is the following "management must be scheduled for 42.5 hours per week. this represents 40 hours of worked time and 30 minutes of unpaid lunch each day for a total of 42.5 hours per week. Does this matter?

Can you explain what constitutes your job duties? 

Your employer's classification of you as exempt may or may not be appropriate.  The most common misclassification I have seen has been in retail cases (but that does not mean you are misclassified).  We need the details of your job duties.  There are a lot of well-known cases out there about retail store managers and assistant managers who were misclassified.  Sometimes this happens intentionally; sometimes it is because of an employer's ignorance.  It can happen even in very large companies.

This is one place NOT to overstate your duties.   If as assistant manager you spend a lot of time restocking shelves, answering customer complaints, filling in for staff who are missing/lazy, making routine internal sales etc--tally up said % of time. Read the state guidelines as to what is exempt vs non exempt.

Drew:

tally up said % of time.

Percentage allocation of duties have not been used for a while now.

Drew:

Read the state guidelines as to what is exempt vs non exempt.

Very little (if any) of this is covered by state laws.  The best resource to refer to is the US Dept of Labor (www.dol.gov) and especially portions of the FLSA that can be found thre.

I stand "updated"----but bottom line remains the same--you need to dig more carefully thru DOL as well and NJ law as to what is exempt or non exempt---what your employer choses to call you is not a safe answer

my duties are to maintain customer service, gain and understand financial performance, visual merchandising, execute sales directives, managing the stores  policies, procedures, and directives, make sure store is fully stocked, cleaned and organized, assist in recruiting. 

ChristineMH:

my duties are to maintain customer service, gain and understand financial performance, visual merchandising, execute sales directives, managing the stores  policies, procedures, and directives, make sure store is fully stocked, cleaned and organized, assist in recruiting. 

The answers to the questions below will still not address everything, but will help posters to get started in the right direction as to whether or not you are properly classified.  (Of course, the opinions we give are opinions and information and not legal advice.  If if does end up you appear misclassified, then there are avenues to take to address the issue.):

1) In your recruiting activities, do you have the authority to make the ultimate decision to hire or terminate an employee?

2) Do you create the schedules for store employees?

3) Are you actively involved in policy formulation and execution?  (Or do you just enforce the policies handed down)?

4) Do you have the authority (even if limited) to make decisions regarding resolution of customer service issues?

5) Do you regularlarly direct the work of your subordinates? 

6) Although percentages of time spent are no longer used to determine status, is the bulk of your time spent on the managerial duties you described? 

Two other regulator contributors (Beth3 and cbg) will likely also be able to ask relevant questions to sort through this, but I think they often don't participate on weekends.

To also help you get a better understanding, you may want to search for the lawsuit against Hollywood Entertainment Corporation regarding classification of store managers.  I don't have time right now to search for it, and I also cannot remember the case name (this took place in the early 2000s). 

The defunct company (it owned the Hollywood Video stores) had so many lawsuits against it prior to its final demise, so digging could take a little while.  It had suits involving financial defaltcations and many other issues in addition to the store manager class action case.  While some of the logistics have since changed in the determination of exempt versus nonexempt, many of the principles in the final court decision still hold true.  One cannot take it and say "this is me", but it's good for general education purposes.