Thread regarding Oracle Corp. layoffs

OT eligible employees being told to work Flex Time

Non Lay-off post here, management is using flex time (if you work 1 hour late to support demand, then start work 1 hour late the next day), as a way to avoid paying overtime eligible employees. Every quarter end we work long hours to support Sales and therefore legally receive OT pay. Not the case for August, as we are told to only work Flex Time and management has even created a later shift for us to work.

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| 3456 views | | 13 replies (last August 21, 2020) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+16dwX2no

13 replies (most recent on top)

I think it is against law as per HR as company / managers can not ask employee to take flex time off or compensatory off, if employee had to work OT to support business.

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Post ID: @losi+16dwX2no

“ Since we are now prevented from working over 40 hours a week, no OT is legally required to be paid. Oracle sure does know how to screw people over.”

No, you aren’t prevented from working more than 40 hours per week. You are prevented from being paid for anything over 40 hours. That’s the trap. Oracle knows that this is a very precarious time for employees, and they are taking advantage. Only YOU can do anything about it. Work the 40, and not one second more. If you’re called out, say you’ll enter the OT hours on your time card. It’s the law and they know it.

The only person you can blame for making you a doormat is YOU.

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Post ID: @3bkt+16dwX2no
If that is what the documentation team did for years and then just left, thanks for nothing, wimps. Legally, you were required to file actual hours worked. Approved or not. If not approved, you should not have been working them but if you did then it becomes a different problem. Report to everyone including DOL in the state that you are hourly and being required to work and told to not record hours. You did everyone a disservice.

Maybe, but remember that these are ORCL employees, not brain surgeons.

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Post ID: @3yiw+16dwX2no

If that is what the documentation team did for years and then just left, thanks for nothing, wimps. Legally, you were required to file actual hours worked. Approved or not. If not approved, you should not have been working them but if you did then it becomes a different problem. Report to everyone including DOL in the state that you are hourly and being required to work and told to not record hours. You did everyone a disservice.

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Post ID: @3tkd+16dwX2no

This happened for years in the Documentation team after the company changed the ICs to hourly. The tech writing teams were severely understaffed compared with the Development teams. The only way to keep up and meet deadlines was to work extra hours. Yet VP-level management questioned the overtime hours and told the ICs not to submit overtime. Many writers worked extra hours without submitting them before departing for greener pastures.

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Post ID: @3dou+16dwX2no

I checked with an attorney -
“The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires overtime pay if an employee works more than 40 hours during a workweek. It does not prohibit employers from adjusting work schedules within a workweek to avoid having an employee work more than 40 hours.

In other words, if your employer adjusts your work hours during the workweek so that you do not work over 40, no overtime pay is due.”
“However, employers cannot give bank overtime hours for non-exempt employees and give them paid time off (comp time) in a different workweek.”

This happened, as coworkers stated they “banked” their overtime worked and instead of being paid the OT, they were allowed to use it as a day off. This part is illegal for management to do.

Since we are now prevented from working over 40 hours a week, no OT is legally required to be paid. Oracle sure does know how to screw people over.

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Post ID: @3zqg+16dwX2no

Company policy against "Comp" time.

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Post ID: @1nqg+16dwX2no

It's also a pipe dream.

Ok, so Monday you stay an hour late. Tuesday you start an hour late , but you probably still have at least 8 hours of work... so you work 8 hours.... so you still have an extra hour... so you start late, wed... but it's really busy so you end up putting in 9 hours which is 10 hours after your normal start,,, so now you start 2 hours late on Thursday, and sorry it's still busy but you stop after 8 hours.... so now you come in 2 hours late on Friday and your manages only going to complain about missing the morning meeting Friday

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Post ID: @zqj+16dwX2no

Whoever is telling you to do this is confusing flex time with compensatory time.

Flex time is adjusting your work hours each day for your or the company’s benefit. You are still only working 8 hours in a day.

Under federal law, compensatory time is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The act recognizes two types of workers: salaried and hourly. Hourly workers must be paid for any overtime. Salaried employees, on the other hand, are exempt from many of the regulations of the FLSA, including the regulations regarding overtime payment. Under federal law, salaried employees may be given compensatory time instead of overtime.

As an hourly employee, if you are being asked to do this, contact your state’s Department of Labor and have them intervene.

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Post ID: @jfe+16dwX2no

Depending on the state, that policy is absolutely illegal. If you are being told to do that, you should contact your state labor department.

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Post ID: @wul+16dwX2no

Once you hear anything like “be happy you have a job”, that’s your hint to GTFO of there. It’s never going to get better and you are being gaslit.

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Post ID: @ifn+16dwX2no

Exactly, we were told similar pathetic lines, basically take it for the team and “it’s a chance to make our team shine.” Meanwhile, as we are basically getting an (illegal?) pay decrease as OT eligible employees having to now use “Flex Time” to avoid OT, our support team still gets pulled into more and more sales Workarounds/escalations because CPQ can barely function beyond the basics. So over it and actively working on getting out.

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Post ID: @ylu+16dwX2no

Yes, and we were told by mgt that we should feel lucky to have jobs, and that everyone needs to “pitch in” during these tough times. If we just “stay the course and execute”, our new management says “the strategy will allow us to win big”.

Meanwhile, we are 2 months into the new quarter, reps are only just recently assigned their accounts, and q1 promises to be a disaster. How about that “strategy” everybody!?!?

Working at Oracle is like a recurring nightmare, except that it just keeps getting worse and worse - a bad dream that nobody ever wakes up from.

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Post ID: @hqa+16dwX2no

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