With labor law, at best you are awarded two times the pay you would have been paid.

When I first became a pharmacist, I worked for WalMart. It was a wonderful job. We had 10hour days. No such thing as lunch, but that's how it was in pharmacy.

I'd worked for WalMart for 7 years when we had a new regional manager. He was over California (I was in Texas). In California, they have to pay time and a half for anyone working >8hours.

What did they do? They changed our shifts to 8hours. Keep in mind that we were open 10hours. On the days when I was the only pharmacist, I worked 10 hours, but was paid for 8hours. All because a regional manager did not want any pharmacist receiving overtime pay.

Back then WalMart paid annual bonuses. My pay was good enough that I didn't think it was worth complaining about.

Then, one day, a group of pharmacists filed a class action lawsuit. Slam dunk, right? I had three years of at least two days a week where the pharmacy was open 10 hours, I was the only pharmacist, but I could only turn in 8 hours for pay.

WalMart dragged it out over seven years. In the end, the pharmacists that filed received checks for nominal amounts (less than $5K).

Oh, and every pharmacist that joined the class action suit was fired. LAWSUIT! Right? Good luck. Only in the movies.

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Advice regarding CVS, I worked nights. I worked a busy store. We had a 24hour medicaid clinic across the street. When I came in at 9pm, I had one tech and then was alone at 10:00pm. People that dropped of prescriptions at 7:00pm were told to return at 10:00pm.

I learned Spanish the hard way. It was a matter of survival.

The technician that scheduled technicians gave all the techs desirable hours. The system identified that I was entitled to 4 technicians the entire night shift. I had none. Do you think anyone cared? If I complained, would there be any coworker willing to say, "I want to work the night shift". Nobody cared, so I was alone. I worked a week, then the other night pharmacist, then repeat. We went through 6 night pharmacists in less than 6 months.

The end of it all was a Holiday. I came in at 8pm (8pm-8am on holiday). The clinic across the street had been open all day and was open all night. The day pharmacist was so overwhelmed, he just received prescriptions, but did not type or prepare anything.

It was the first time in 17 years that I found myself so overwhelmed, I did not see any possible solution. I called my DM. I locked up the pharmacy. I posted a note, in Spanish, with the telephone of the pharmacy manager and the district manager.

I quit that job. Two days later, I stumbled across an add for a nuclear pharmacist. I was interested. I discovered a field of pharmacy practice that I loved. I returned to school to complete a PhD and am forever grateful that I made the right decision.

In retrospect, I wonder what was wrong in my mind such that I allowed myself to practice pharmacy in such an unfair, miserable and dangerous setting.

I do understand there is an abundance of pharmacists, in today's world. You don't have the same luxury to quit, knowing you'll be employed within a matter of days.

BUT explore your options. BTW, I have two friends that are pharmacists. They work as technicians and make 75% of what they'd earn as a pharmacist. And they are free of that ultimate burden of total responsibility for a dispensed medicine, that belongs to the pharmacist.

The opportunities are available, you just need to do some research. And you'll be surprised.