Electrician rights on the job: overtime, travel time, tools, pay

As a W-2 electrician you're owed time and a half for every hour over 40 in a workweek, pay for driving between job sites during the day, required safety gear at no cost, and your final check on your state's deadline. Your boss can't deduct tools if it drops your pay below minimum wage or cuts into overtime, and he can't call you a 1099 just to skip all of it.

Those are federal floors, from the Department of Labor, OSHA and the IRS. Many states add more. Below is each one, the rule behind it and where to take it if it's not happening. This is general information, not legal advice.

01Overtime: every hour over 40 in a workweek

You get at least time and a half your regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek, per the DOL Fact Sheet #23.

Three details trip up a lot of hands:

1. Federal law has no daily overtime. A 10-hour day isn't overtime by itself. Some states do have daily overtime. In California it's time and a half over 8 hours in a day and double time over 12 (California DIR overtime FAQ).
2. No averaging. Each workweek stands alone. The DOL says "averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted." A 60-hour week followed by a 20-hour week is still 20 hours of overtime.
3. Weekends aren't automatically overtime. Saturday pays time and a half only if it puts you over 40, unless your state, union agreement or shop policy says more.

Your "regular rate" includes all pay for the work, not just the base rate. Pay for expenses you incur on the employer's behalf is left out. That's why per diem usually stays out of your overtime math. Under the federal rule, a travel reimbursement is excluded only if it "reasonably approximates" the expense. Per diem at or under the federal travel rate counts as reasonable, and anything "disproportionately large" goes into the regular rate (29 CFR 778.217).

Example only: at $40 an hour, a 6-10s week is 60 hours. That's 40 × $40 = $1,600 straight time, plus 20 × $60 = $1,200 overtime, for $2,800 before taxes. The full breakdown, with per diem and taxes, is in what 6-10s really pay.

02Travel time: job to job counts, the commute doesn't

Driving between job sites during your workday is paid work time, and your normal drive from home to the job isn't, per DOL Fact Sheet #22.

How that plays out on a typical week:

• Home to the job in the morning: ordinary commute, not work time.
• Job to job during the day: work time. Service runs between calls count.
• One-day job in another city: the travel there and back is work time, minus your usual commute.
• Overnight out-of-town travel: work time when it "cuts across the employee's workday," including the same hours on your days off. Riding as a passenger outside your normal hours isn't counted.
• Waiting on site: if you're told to stand by for the inspector or the material truck, you're "engaged to wait," and that's work time.

Once your day has started, wherever it starts, the clock runs until your last job is done. If you're told to meet at the shop, load the trailer and then drive to the job, ask how that drive is paid and write down what they say. Travel pay on road jobs and per diem rules are covered in the traveling electrician guide.

03Tools: what they can and can't take out of your check

Your boss can't make you pay for tools if it drops your pay below minimum wage or eats into your overtime, per DOL Fact Sheet #16.

The DOL lists "tools used in the employee's work" as an item for the employer's benefit. Having you hand over cash instead of taking a payroll deduction doesn't get around the rule.

The catch: at journeyman rates, the federal floor of $7.25 an hour almost never comes into play, so federal law alone won't stop most tool deductions. State law is where the real protection is:

• California. Under the construction wage order, the employer must provide and maintain required tools and equipment. The exception: an employee whose wages are at least twice the minimum wage "may provide and maintain hand tools and equipment customarily required by the particular trade or craft" (IWC Wage Order 16, section 8). So your strippers and pliers are on you. The bender, the threader and the meter for the job are on the shop.
• Washington. A final paycheck can't be held back over unreturned tools, keys or equipment (Washington L&I).

A fair split looks like California's: hand tools are yours, power tools and specialty gear are the shop's. If a shop wants you buying cordless kits, ask about a tool allowance before you take the job.

04Safety gear: the shop pays for what it requires

Your employer must provide the protective equipment the job requires "at no cost to employees," under 29 CFR 1926.95(d).

The shop doesn't have to pay for:

• Non-specialty safety-toe boots and non-specialty prescription safety glasses, if you're allowed to wear them off the site.
• Everyday clothing, like long-sleeve shirts, long pants, street shoes and normal work boots.
• Weather gear, like winter coats, gloves and rain gear.
• A replacement for gear you lost or wrecked on purpose.

Everything else it requires is on the shop: hard hats, safety glasses, hearing protection, harnesses and lanyards. Voltage-rated gloves, arc-rated face shields and arc flash suits aren't on the exception list either. The rule also says the employer "shall not require an employee to provide or pay for his or her own PPE," outside those exceptions. You can choose to use your own gear if it's adequate, and then the shop doesn't have to pay you back for it.

05Your final paycheck: state law sets the clock

Federal law doesn't require your last check right away. The DOL says "Employers are not required by federal law to give former employees their final paycheck immediately," and state law fills that gap.

Two examples of how different states are:

Sources: California DIR paydays FAQ, Washington L&I.

In California, if an employer willfully pays late, it can owe a waiting-time penalty of a day's pay for each day late, up to 30 days. Check your own state labor department before you pull the pin. How to quit an electrical job without burning bridges covers notice, tools and the van.

061099 or W-2: who decides

You're an employee if the company controls what you do and how you do it, no matter what the paperwork says. The IRS looks at three things: behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship.

On a real electrical job, the shop sets your hours, tells you where to be, supplies the material and runs the work. That's control. Getting paid on a 1099 for that work means you lose overtime, workers' comp and unemployment coverage, and you pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare yourself.

What you can do:

1. File Form SS-8 to get an official IRS ruling. Either the business or the worker can file it. It takes at least six months.
2. File Form 8919 with your tax return to report your share of Social Security and Medicare that wasn't withheld, if you believe you were misclassified.
3. Call your state labor department. Many states have their own, stricter tests.

Being put on a 1099 when they set your schedule is one of the bigger red flags at an electrical company.

07Unsafe work: when you can say no

You can refuse work that poses an imminent danger of death or serious injury, if you meet OSHA's conditions, and the company can't punish you for it (OSHA, Workers' right to refuse dangerous work).

OSHA's four conditions:

1. Where possible, you asked the employer to fix the danger and it didn't.
2. You refused in good faith, believing the danger was real.
3. A reasonable person would agree there's a real danger of death or serious injury.
4. There isn't time to fix it through normal OSHA enforcement.

If you're punished for it, you have 30 days to file a retaliation complaint with OSHA. Working hot is the case electricians run into most. Can your boss make you work hot? covers that situation step by step.

The shop also owes you training. On plant and facility work covered by OSHA's general industry rules, 29 CFR 1910.332 says workers facing a risk of shock must be trained, and qualified persons must be trained to tell exposed live parts from other parts, determine nominal voltage and know the clearance distances. Which cards help you on top of that, like OSHA 10, OSHA 30 and NFPA 70E, is in OSHA 10, OSHA 30, NFPA 70E: which cards matter.

08How to get what you're owed

Most pay problems get fixed with a record and a phone call. Keep the record first.

1. Write down your hours every day. Start, stop, lunch, drive time between jobs, and which job. A notebook or your phone works.
2. Keep every pay stub. Check the hours, the overtime and any deductions against your notes.
3. Ask payroll or the office first, by text or email so there's a record.
4. Call the DOL Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243 if it isn't fixed. The DOL says complaints are confidential and an employer "cannot retaliate against a worker for exercising their rights, filing a complaint or cooperating with an investigation" (DOL, How to file a complaint).
5. Don't wait. Under federal law, a claim for unpaid minimum wage or overtime has to be brought within two years, or three if the violation was willful (29 U.S.C. 255).

Knowing your rights is half of knowing your worth. The other half is your rate. Run your Pay Check to see what electricians with your license make near you. Takes about a minute and your boss never hears about it.

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