Complaint Review: Brevard Security Specialists

In 1994, I moved to Palm Bay, Florida, in hopes of a new and better life. My wife and I had just had our first child, and moved to Florida in hopes of better employment and living opportunities. We were fortunate enough to get help from family members who were already Florida residents. I began my search for employment immediately and ran into a company by the name of Brevard Security Specialists. I had never done this type of work but was willing to do the training class, which I had to invest out of my own pocket, to secure a position with the company. When I was finally hired and reported to work, I was given information about the job criteria and the pay and benefits. One of the things that seemed out of the ordinary was that I was told that the company only paid out straight time. In other words, they didn't pay time and a half for overtime, which is how it was done in Illinois, where I was originally from. I thought it was kind of strange and my wife was clearly not on board with it, but what choice did I have? I had no idea what the overtime laws were and I didn't have the time or resources to investigate, plus more importantly, I needed this job to secure the future finances of my family. Fortunately, I didn't work for them too long, I'd say i worked for them for a few months at most before I was contacted by another company for which I had also applied. I regret not looking into the matter further, because what they did was clearly illegal and unjust to say the least. I wish I would have taken action against these persons, but I was very young and inexperienced...and most of all DESPERATE for a steady income. There were times I would work anywhere from 50-60 hrs/week and I was still paid at a regular rate. The explanation they gave me about O.T. pay was that they were exempt as a company from paying out O.T. I was truly naive to have accepted that GROSS explanation...but that's exactly what happened and I can honestly say, that in hind sight, if I could it all over, I would most definitely handle things differently!