Are chains switching every to salaried to rip us off?

[trailerpark]

Walmart has a new initiative to switch every full time pharmacist to salary, even their floaters. I see no issue with having the pharmacy manager as salaried, but I feel like as a floater by switching me to salary they just get to avoid paying me time and a half when I work over 40 hours per week and not pay me for my drive time. Many stores I drive to are well over an hour and some 2 hours away.

In general, it seems like salary is just a way to get cheaper labor by not having to pay overtime and how can they expect a floater to drive 5 hours in 1 day on their own time when their shift is only 10 hours? Walmart's new choices even have salaried to as low as 24 hours per week. At Walmart when you're salary you get 3 more dollars an hour above 40, but if you pick up a 10 hour shift that's only an extra 30 dollars or 20 after taxes... Not worth it, in my opinion.

Too many companies are trying to bypass overtime laws, by making positions salaried when then clearly shouldn't be. Even for the staff RPHs, Walmart wants them to sign only 32 hr/week salary offers when they do this new roll out. By doing this they can schedule them for 40 hours when they need the coverage, but then drop them to 32 hours per week whenever they please. All these students talk about how much overtime they're going to do and pay loans fast when they don't understand how much the chains are trying to screw us over and I'm already rural as heck. A lot of the folks around here look like The Hills Have Eyes.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...d=0CDUQMygDMANqFQoTCPmz6tSy4ccCFUaLkgod2koKag

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[Momus]

Good job, you are catching on.

 

[PharFromNormal]

Gotta love us pharmacists. We complain when our employers treat us like common retail employees and not the "professionals" that we are but then when they go and try to salary us like other professionals we complain and want to be kept like common retail employees.

 

[confettiflyer]

It's illegal for a non-manager pharmacist to be salaried in California as of 15 years ago.

The west coast beckons.

 

[BenJammin]

Quit! If you're working 50 hours a week and getting paid for 40 then QUIT. STOP ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE TREATED LIKE A SLAVE

 

[confettiflyer]

We also invalidate any and all non-compete agreements you may have entered into at some point in your career.

Such agreements are unenforceable within the State.

 

[trailerpark]

 

[npage148]

Quit! If you're working 50 hours a week and getting paid for 40 then QUIT. STOP ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE TREATED LIKE A SLAVE

Yup. Not a min over my base unless I'm getting paid extra.

 

[wagrxm2000]

I love being salaried, whenever I get my work done early, which happens often, I just leave. I can't remember that last time I stayed over my hours. Same goes for my staff rph, if its 3 and we are fine, they go home. Salary is awesome

 

[deleted158872]

Too many companies are trying to bypass overtime laws, by making positions salaried when then clearly shouldn't be. Even for the staff RPHs, Walmart wants them to sign only 32 hr/week salary offers when they do this new roll out. By doing this they can schedule them for 40 hours when they need the coverage, but then drop them to 32 hours per week whenever they please. All these students talk about how much overtime they're going to do and pay loans fast when they don't understand how much the chains are trying to screw us over and I'm already rural as heck. A lot of the folks around here look like The Hills Have Eyes.

it seems like this is not uncommon now. my friend's cousin is being paid for 40h while she works more than that.

I love being salaried, whenever I get my work done early, which happens often, I just leave. I can't remember that last time I stayed over my hours. Same goes for my staff rph, if its 3 and we are fine, they go home. Salary is awesome

what if you have more scripts coming in after 3?

 

[trailerpark]

Yeah I'll just close walmart pharmacy 3 hours early and just assume no scripts are coming in and there will be no one coming to pick up. Yeah OKAY!

 

[MatCauthon]

I just switched to salary. I'm pretty sure that I will almost never be allowed to leave early. One PIC was even saying I have to use sick time to clock out for doctors appointments and what not.
We will see how it works. One good benefit of switching salary was that I was given some extra vacation days compared to the hourly workers. I'm probably going to lose at least 10-15k per year by going to salary though.

It's not ideal, but this is the trend everywhere outside of California.

 

[Digsbe]

Maybe state organizations should push for labor laws like what California has. I highly doubt the chains, or any employer, is going to make a move to benefit their employees when it comes to pay and benefits. Salaried pharmacists will never do under 40 hrs a week due to your time being there depending on store hours. It's not a desk job where if you finish work tasks early you leave early. If anything it facilitates staying late for no pay to catch up on scripts to be filled by tomorrow you couldn't get to due to short staffing. If it means more vacation time like real professional jobs I'd take that though.

 

[BenJammin]

That won't happen because most pharmacists are cowards. Too busy giving each other trophies and patting each other on the back. No one will take us seriously.

 

[trailerpark]

Salary is just a way to get free hours because a lot of us don't want to leave a mess for the next guy and expect the same from our coworkers.

 

[pillpharmer14]

At CVS I was considered "hourly exempt", meaning you are hourly, but your base number of hours adds up to sum of money that exempts you from receiving overtime pay. In other, less fancy words, salaried. They just made the same move at my hospital and some people who works lots of OT are pissed but it doesn't really affect me. With the exception of cali, I thought most pharmacists were already classified this way. Of all the things the chains are doing to pharmacists, this one is pretty low on the list for me.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Quit! If you're working 50 hours a week and getting paid for 40 then QUIT. STOP ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE TREATED LIKE A SLAVE

The OP is hardly being treated like a slave, s/he is complaining about getting hourly pay + $3.00 extra instead of getting hour pay + %50. Yes, its fair to question if employers are trying to get around overtime laws, but lets be rational--pharmacists still are getting paid extra for working extra (approved) hours, which is something that no other salaried employee gets.

Also to the OP, does Wal-Mart not pay mileage to salaried employees? I'm pretty sure that CVS and Walgreens pay mileage to salaried employees.

 

[deleted212839]

When I read the opening post, I thought that chains pay pharmacists for 32h while making them work 40h..... but if you're still being paid for overtime, I fail to see the point..........

 

[BMBiology]

By not paying a pharmacist 1.5x rate for overtime, companies don't have to hire another pharmacist. Why hire another pharmacist + benefits + training when you can have another pharmacist work OT but without the 1.5x rate?

Expect more work for less. Expect your DM to pressure you to work more OT hours. This will be especially hard for those with a family, for older pharmacists, for pharmacists who need to drive a great distance.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Let me set things straight. Salary employees have their base hours. They are not based at 32 then told to work 40. If I pick up a shift I am given overtime. Also why would employees get upset if someone leaves while the store is busy? I don't get upset when my techs leave since they are hourly and they don't get upset when I leave even though I'm salary.

No one can force you to stay so don't if you don't want to.

 

[Digsbe]

By law if you're the only pharmacist you have to stay. If you leave everything has to shut down since it's your license everyone is operating under. If the pharmacy is open until 9pm you can't leave a 7:30 and have everyone else do their stuff until it closes.

Pharmacists should push for state labor laws like what California did in making mandatory overtime, either that or unionize. Don't complain and then do nothing about it, that's what has allowed the profession to get kicked around for so long.

 

[wagrxm2000]

By law if you're the only pharmacist you have to stay. If you leave everything has to shut down since it's your license everyone is operating under. If the pharmacy is open until 9pm you can't leave a 7:30 and have everyone else do their stuff until it closes.

Pharmacists should push for state labor laws like what California did in making mandatory overtime, either that or unionize. Don't complain and then do nothing about it, that's what has allowed the profession to get kicked around for so long.

Huh? Again no one will force you to work more hours without paying you. They won't schedule you 9 to 7 then say oh stay until 9. They will pay you overtime if they ask.

 

[Digsbe]

Huh? Again no one will force you to work more hours without paying you. They won't schedule you 9 to 7 then say oh stay until 9. They will pay you overtime if they ask.

I was mainly discussing the "benefit" of leaving early as salary. In a typical pharmacy setting you will never ever leave early, it's illegal to do so and still have the pharmacy open if you're the only one there. The overtime comment is regarding overtime pay with that being more than base rate. They might pay you but it may not be time and a half.

 

[trailerpark]

The OP is hardly being treated like a slave, s/he is complaining about getting hourly pay + $3.00 extra instead of getting hour pay + %50. Yes, its fair to question if employers are trying to get around overtime laws, but lets be rational--pharmacists still are getting paid extra for working extra (approved) hours, which is something that no other salaried employee gets.

Also to the OP, does Wal-Mart not pay mileage to salaried employees? I'm pretty sure that CVS and Walgreens pay mileage to salaried employees.

You get mileage to cover your gas and wear and tear on your car, but you aren't paid the time to drive to and from the other store. Maybe not a big deal to someone who is just covering a shift in a neighboring store, but I'm a floater for a district that some stores are 5 hours away round trip. The least I ever have to travel is 1.5 hours round trip so even if I work all 4 days at the closest store to my home store it's 6 hours a week that I have to drive on my own time and like I said that's the closest store I go to.

 

[trailerpark]

I was talking to another Walmart pharmacist at a store I floated to and he worked two 60 hour weeks in a row and he's hourly so he got time and a half for above 40 hours that 2 week pay period and he said Walmart asked him previously if he would switch to salary, but still cover extra shifts (he routinely works over 40 a week). They offered him 2 extra vacation days, but he said he'd rather have time and a half for over 40 hours then an extra vacation day or 2 because walmart wont ever approve vacation days for him so they agreed to pay out some vacation hours last year (due to increased business needs...) and he lost some hours in the past since vacation doesn't roll over. What pharmacist in retail would agree to go salary and still asked to work 60 hours a week at base+3$ over 40/week instead of base +0.5xbase. But now corporate Walmart is forcing salary for all full time pharmaists in a new initiative called H2O that's still being rolled out nationwide. Walmart is trying to cut costs by never having to pay any pharmacist time and a half and never have to pay for drive time. I heard they would only make you travel to the 4 closest stores to you, but when you're as rural as me that is still very far away! And you know they're still going to ask you to cover shifts even farther away. This pharmacist told me of a floater who got 40 hours a week salary, but had to spend 20 hours that week on the road with no compensation so he just quit.

 

[BidingMyTime]

You get mileage to cover your gas and wear and tear on your car, but you aren't paid the time to drive to and from the other store. Maybe not a big deal to someone who is just covering a shift in a neighboring store, but I'm a floater for a district that some stores are 5 hours away round trip. The least I ever have to travel is 1.5 hours round trip so even if I work all 4 days at the closest store to my home store it's 6 hours a week that I have to drive on my own time and like I said that's the closest store I go to.

So, are you saying that if you are not salaried at Wal-Mart that they pay you an hourly salary for your time spent driving, and that when you become salary, they no longer spend your for your time spent driving? I can see why that would be a negative change, but this is the first I've heard of any job that actually paid people for their drive time. That is quite a benefit, but certainly not an industry wide benefit, or even one that any other chain does.

 

[trailerpark]

So, are you saying that if you are not salaried at Wal-Mart that they pay you an hourly salary for your time spent driving, and that when you become salary, they no longer spend your for your time spent driving? I can see why that would be a negative change, but this is the first I've heard of any job that actually paid people for their drive time. That is quite a benefit, but certainly not an industry wide benefit, or even one that any other chain does.

Right now if I work 8-6 at a store 1 hour away I get paid my hourly wage from 7-7.

 

[fattunesy]

I'm salaried, but I work in hospital IT. When my work is done I leave. Some days I work longer, some days I work less. It is usually around 40 hours a week, maybe a bit above. For me, being salaried is great. When I was a staff pharmacist it was generally okay as we always had enough overlap that extra hours could be made up or people could take off when it was slow. When I was running the outpatient pharmacy as the only pharmacist most of the time it sucked. Just like retail, when the place was open I was there. If I had to do extra things before or afterwards, I was there and not getting paid for it. So I can see it working some places and not others.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Right now if I work 8-6 at a store 1 hour away I get paid my hourly wage from 7-7.

Wait so you think you should be paid your hourly wage while driving?

From my experience, floaters don't stay floaters very long unless they suck or choose to. The reason they choose to float is usually because they don't want any responsibility at a store.

Just stop being a floater.

 

[trailerpark]

There's not an open position...

 

[radio frequency]

There's not an open position...

Are you open to leaving your area? I see open positions for WM posted from time to time...(I'm on their email listserv for open pharmacist jobs).

 

[wagrxm2000]

There's not an open position...

Lol just this past month there were three openings in my area.

Let me ask this, IF you move and still float COULD you shorten your drive significantly?

 

[trailerpark]

I moved 17 hours to land a grad intern position here and was told it would then go to full time staff in this store, but then the other staff refused to take the manager role and they brought another pharmacist in so the staff position was gone so the DM made me a floater and now that he got fired who knows what's going on.

 

[Corpseman]

You can get benefits with a salary of 48 hours or so, I don't think it is actually that bad.

 

[trailerpark]

You can get benefits with a salary of 48 hours or so, I don't think it is actually that bad.

Are you ******ed!? I just graduated and need a full time job, not 24 hours a week and don't think they wouldn't schedule you for more than that and avoid paying you overtime. The money the save from not having to pay overtime is far greater than benefits for the rare older worker who just wants to work 24 hours a week. Most people working full time want 40 hours a week so the fact that Walmart is doing this is ripping more people off than the amount of people benefiting from it.

 

[Corpseman]

Are you ******ed!? I just graduated and need a full time job, not 24 hours a week and don't think they wouldn't schedule you for more than that and avoid paying you overtime. The money the save from not having to pay overtime is far greater than benefits for the rare older worker who just wants to work 24 hours a week. Most people working full time want 40 hours a week so the fact that Walmart is doing this is ripping more people off than the amount of people benefiting from it.

Stop crying and quit then, it isn't all about you. Some pharmacists need part time and benefits as well, so this is the best situation for those people.

Don't like it, leave. There are 20 others ready to take your place.

 

[Prepharm1214]

Walmart may have been the last retail pharmacy offering time and a half for OT, with the decreased reimbursement and other cuts retail has incurred lately it makes sense they move to a model exhibited by the other chains. The other chains also only pay a set rate for mileage when traveling, your district seems to be unusually large unfortunately. Forcing you to work past your base hours when salaried is a low move however...

 

[Eichhoernchen]

Personally, I like working 32 hours and still receiving benefits. It keeps me sane, happy and still in good financial position! (I am single )

 

[wagrxm2000]

Walmart may have been the last retail pharmacy offering time and a half for OT, with the decreased reimbursement and other cuts retail has incurred lately it makes sense they move to a model exhibited by the other chains. The other chains also only pay a set rate for mileage when traveling, your district seems to be unusually large unfortunately. Forcing you to work past your base hours when salaried is a low move however...

This is why no one is backing him up. Wag moved away from time and a half a long time ago and now no one picks up shifts so it saved wag a lot.

Clearly either your scheduler is a dick or you're on the bottom of the totem pole. The way our district typically works is there are floaters for certain areas of the district. They get most of their shifts in their area but may have to travel far for one or two shifts.

You clearly need to move or get a different job. If you didn't get considered for any recent openings then they must not think highly of you.