My angle is that software developers do not meet the requirements for exempt workers in spirit; namely, creative and self-directed solutions (perhaps distinct from software engineers). Work for a new/rebooted development org could be structured this way. It’d probably look like a deplorable plan on paper to money people.
I'm confused. I simply don't work over 40 hours a week (average), don't want to lower my per-hour salary. Increased compensation for overtime would be the only thing to make me work over 40 hours, I think that's fair. Genuine question: why can't you go home early?
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer; everything in this comment is my opinion and/or based on things that I have found on the internet or vaguely remembered from legal notices posted around my workplace. EDIT: Also this is only about things in the USA--I do not know how it works elsewhere.
Short answer: You can't go home early because if you don't put in the time your employer requires of you they can fire you!
Longer answer: The 40 hour work week is set forth in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). All that the FLSA says is that depending on what kind of work you do, your employer may or may not be required to compensate you for overtime. Your employer is allowed to set your work hour requirements, but if you are considered "non-exempt" from the FLSA, then if you work more than 40 hours your employer is required to provide time-and-a-half compensation for the extra hours worked. Many positions in tech are, I think, generally "exempt" from the FLSA's overtime rule (software dev types, at least--I'm less sure about ops/IT services folks) and therefore employers are not required by law to compensate software developers for overtime.
The FLSA does not address whether or not an employer can require you to work more or less or exactly 40 hours per week; it's all about what obligations they take on if you are non-exempt and they do require you to work more than 40 hours per week.
Not only do they not meet the requirements in spirit, an argument can made that developers don't meet the requirements in the letter of the law in places like California. But they've been conditioned to take their stock options and shut up about it so it hasn't been litigated much.
At a job in Minnesota, we were paid a "production bonus" for working over 40 hours / week. Bosses were extremely clear about never calling it overtime, because they legally couldn't.
The reason? We salaried, not hourly employees, and overtime is a legally regulated thing for hourly employees. Of course, we were paid the equivalent of our hourly rate, not hourly + half, which might have had something to do with it, but working over 40 was always optional, so noone complained.
I'm not a lawyer, but that's what we were told at least.
In California you can't voluntarily waive overtime if you're entitled to it. And whether you're entitled to it is a question of fact that can't be changed by calling it something different. California law is very clear that you can't contract your way around public policy.
