<prompt> Human: Im 24 years old and have been with this small business going on three years now. During my entire time of employment I was told that I will only receive overtime if my time goes over 80 hours in a pay period I get paid hourly. I know there are some exemptions but I do not fall into those categories and to remain anonymous I would rather not say exactly what I do but I am a technician not on automobiles. To get around overtime they will have me work up to 50 hour weeks then the next week will be cut short. Their explanation for not giving me overtime on anything over 40 hour weeks is that my next week will be shorter, most of the time it isnt much shorter. You think that as a 24 year old I would of known this by now but my internet research so far is just confusing. I dont want to be confrontational at all. I would rather approach this in a calm matter but I want the right things to say to back me up. Thanks for your time!  <response>: you can call your states labor board and ask them directly. they are the experts. 