If you are a
temporary Houston call center employee not receiving overtime pay, it may be because your temporary employer is not defining breaks properly.
Many call center workers wear headsets, and some of them may even be completely wireless. Some headsets, like the ones often used at cell phone carrier customer support centers, connect right to a cell phone used by the worker. This freedom from being tied to your desk’s landline phone may also mean that you are allowed to get up and walk around during the call. Although it may seem like you are taking a break from your desk, you are still working.
But what happens when your boss considers this “up and moving around” time your break? Just because you are taking a stretch while talking on the phone does not mean that you are not working.
The same goes for asking you to take a call or work on your computer over your lunch hour. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Houston call center employees are entitled to be paid for the time they spend doing the following:
- Logging on or shutting down their computer systems
- Working over lunch
- Taking a call that runs into your break time or lunch time
- Completing paperwork over lunch or breaks
- Checking email
Failure to be paid during these times when you are actually working can take away from the overtime hours you have earned, and translate into hundreds of dollars missing from your paycheck.
You time is just as valuable as a permanent employee’s. Protect your paycheck as a temporary worker by learning your rights, which can be done be ordering your free copy of the Texas overtime lawyer’s free book,
Ten Biggest Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Texas Overtime Claim, by calling 888.449.2068 today.
Category: Call Center Workers
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