Are you being paid enough for overtime?

Social work is not like other jobs. The personal and intimate nature of the work – focused on ensuring the well-being of individuals and families – means that social workers are almost always on call, blurring the boundary between work and personal life. There are regular visits to see clients, emergencies where a fast response is essential and constant e-mails and phone calls. And that’s not to mention the number of hours spent working on case files at home, trainings, meetings and countless weekends or holidays lost to urgent work.

Social workers are covered by Georgia’s labor laws, including overtime laws. If a social worker spends more than 40 hours per week on the job, they should be paid extra for that time at an increased rate of pay. Unfortunately, overtime regulations are rarely observed for social workers. Most of their extra work goes “unseen,” meaning they do not receive overtime pay, even when their work week stretches to 60 or 80 hours.

Common forms of “unseen overtime” include:

Our Overtime Calculator for Social Workers will help you understand whether you are working “unseen overtime” and to calculate how much money you may be losing.

The calculator will guide you through a simple series of questions which should take about 5-10 minutes to answer. After you complete the questions, the Calculator will provide an estimate of your unpaid overtime.

The Calculator is meant as an educational tool, but we also encourage you to reach out to the Social Workers Union if you are interested in learning more about your results. We are working to ensure that more social workers get the pay that they deserve. If you are not already a member of the Social Workers’ Union, you can find more information about joining here.