Reference no: EM132887854

Harry owns a hotel employing approximately 25 employees. Arnold serves a front desk supervisor of the hotel and receives a salary of $900 per week. Arnold supervises four other front desk workers, although Harry remains personally involved in any hiring, firing or disciplinary decisions. Harry has five family members who work at the hotel as cleaners and receive free lodging as a part of their pay. While Harry keeps track of their hours and they work about 8 hours a day, he pays them on a daily rate of $50 per day of work and figures that their ability to stay overnight in one of the rooms more than makes up for any lack of pay. None of them complain as they are relatives. As for the nonsupervisory front desk employees, he pays them at a rate of $7.25 an hour which is the minimum wage in the state where they work. If they work more than 80 hours during any two-week payroll period, Harry pays them an "overtime bonus" outside of payroll on a cash basis at a rate of $10 per hour. One of those front-desk employees, Sam, complains that he is not getting the same benefit of the family members who lodge at the hotel and he thinks he should be getting overtime. The day after Sam's complaint, Harry fires Sam because he is an alcoholic and smells like liquor while working at the front desk. What FLSA issues are presented by this scenario? Does Sam have any claims? How would you advise Sam to resolve these issues?