An accounting trick to trim overtime pay?

For the last four years, my employer has given me an annual 3 1/2 % raise. But the company breaks the raise up in a peculiar way: 1 1/2 % in my biweekly paycheck and the remaining 2% in a separate check. I want my entire raise in my paycheck so I can budget my expenses better. But I think the company has found a clever way to hold down overtime costs, since my hourly wage includes the smaller amount. Is this legal?

Whether the slicing and dicing is legal depends on your status. I’m assuming you’re nonexempt, because you receive overtime pay. If that’s true, your company’s action sounds illegal.

And it sounds illegal for precisely the concern you raised. The apportioning does affect the overtime rate the company pays you. That rate kicks in after you work more than 40 hours a week. And under federal law, that rate must be at least 1 1/2 times your hourly rate of pay.