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FWST: Former TCU employee claims in lawsuit he was fired after complaining about discrimination

TopFrog

Lifelong Frog
Former TCU employee claims in lawsuit he was fired after complaining about discrimination

By Diane Smith

A former TCU employee said he was discriminated against by the university after he asked for a new work status that would have allowed him more time to process mounting financial aid applications from veterans — an employment designation that was granted to a white female worker.

Ricardo Avitia, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, wanted to work more than 40 hours a week without activating overtime pay so he could process financial aid applications filed by military veterans. But he was denied this “exempt” status and believes TCU retaliated against him after he questioned why a white co-worker received the status that was denied to him.

Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/education/article230349604.html#storylink=cpy
 

ticketfrog123

Active Member
This is an odd story.

Isn’t “exempt” simply full-time employee status? Implying this employee was part-time or on a <40 hr/week schedule with benefits?
 

MTfrog5

Active Member
Yeah I'm a little confused as well. When you're salary, I've always just expected that you will probably work more than 40 hours during the certain parts of the year to make sure all the work is done.
 

Peacefrog

Degenerate
This is an odd story.

Isn’t “exempt” simply full-time employee status? Implying this employee was part-time or on a <40 hr/week schedule with benefits?
Generally speaking exempt is a salaried employee that doesn’t get paid for OT. Non exempt is an hourly employee that does get paid for OT. Designations are very specific and regulated to ensure companies don’t label an employee exempt just to avoid OT.

Edit: it is possible to be salaried and non exempt. My description above is very generalized.
 

tcujsauce

Active Member
To be given exempt status you have to meet certain criteria. Typically this is for executive (managing employees), professional (position requires advanced degree/certification), or administrative (power to make high level decisions for organization). Obviously don’t know the history behind this particular employees employment, but at face value it certainly seems like he’s got a legit complaint.
 

Hoosierfrog

Tier 1
Salaried Employees
Just because you are paid a salary does not mean that you are not entitled to overtime pay. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 86% of the American workforce--about 115 million employees--is covered by federal overtime rules. This includes salaried employees and white-collar workers.

Many Texas employers--especially small businesses--wrongly believe that an employee is not entitled to overtime pay if the employee is paid a salary. Small businesses make up the largest number of employers. As a result, untold numbers of salaried employees should be paid overtime pay and are not.

Under federal overtime law and Texas overtime law, salaried employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in any workweek unless two specific requirements are met: (1) the salary exceeds $455 per workweek; and (2) the employee performs duties satisfying one of the narrowly-defined FLSA overtime exemptions (e.g. executive, administrative, professional, etc).
 

froginaustin

Active Member
Jeez this sounds like exactly the sort of situation that might be mediated** to good effect. I hope both sides make an effort if they haven't already.
What bothers me the most about this, is the impact on Avita's kids. They sound like the sort of folks that filled TCU classes in the good ole days. Maybe not academic scholarship good, but plenty good enough to contribute to and to benefit from a TCU education although they possibly (likely) can't afford contemporary TCU tuition.

** A disagreement over workplace conditions and terms is a good candidate for mediation; a squabble over whether one side is racist or the other side is an exploitive cynic might be tough to settle, even with a good mediator involved.
 

One Frog Nation

Active Member
So, if you are non-exempt and move to a position that is exempt, I would think that there would be a pay adjustment as well, perhaps PTO adjustments also. It just seems that there is more to this story then you read here.
 

mc1502

Full Member
Sorry, but this dude is crazy. Asking to be made exempt in the eyes of the DOL is asking to have the privilege of working OT without getting paid for it. I would kill to be classified as nonexempt. As a side note, a company can't just choose to make someone exempt, the duties you actually perform must pass one of the FLSA exemption tests to qualify for exempt status. If TCU had agreed to make this person exempt, when their position did not materially change to the extent that it now passed the exemption test, the DOL could have come down on them like a ton of bricks.
 

ticketfrog123

Active Member
Sorry, but this dude is crazy. Asking to be made exempt in the eyes of the DOL is asking to have the privilege of working OT without getting paid for it. I would kill to be classified as nonexempt. As a side note, a company can't just choose to make someone exempt, the duties you actually perform must pass one of the FLSA exemption tests to qualify for exempt status. If TCU had agreed to make this person exempt, when their position did not materially change to the extent that it now passed the exemption test, the DOL could have come down on them like a ton of bricks.

I won’t call him crazy, but there’s a bunch of variables here.

Did he ask for “exempt” status or a pay bump to handle extra work? Typically, inquiring about a title or pay change won’t get you fired. Being put on a “performance plan” with notice may change things.

I understand you can’t just make a job “exempt” and would also love to be paid overtime.

Wonder if this story ran with any actual evidence being shown to reporters. Doubtful there’s a journalist that can appropriately assess a legal case having merit.
 
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