Are You Entitled To Overtime Pay? Have A Look At The Laws

Under the FLSA – The fair labor standards act of 1938, you are categorized under overtime if you work more than 40 hours in a week. Federal law was started to make sure that the workers in Americas are paid for the work they do. In USA, overtime lawyers are easily reachable for any exemption from pay.

When it comes to employee pay, FLSA has two major provisions:

Minimum Wage – New York’s minimum wage is about $9.00 per hour and if an employer meets the requirements of federal law, then it is necessary that the employer pays a minimum wage required i.e. $7.25 per hour.

Overtime Wages – The employer is required to pay non-exempt employees’ time and a half the employee’s normal hourly rate for all extra hours worked apart from 40 hours a week.

“The Sweat. The Time. The Devotion. It Pays Off”

There are some issues to be considered when trying to determine whether overtime wages are allocated.

1. Are you an “independent contractor”?

In order to avoid paying overtime, taxes, and other employment benefits, some companies designate the employees as independent contractor, which is often illegal. If you are not an independent contractor then you are entitled to overtime wages.

2. Blue-collar employees and manual laborers are almost always entitled to overtime pay

Manual laborers and “blue-collar” workers are paid for their overtime hours. The employees included in this are electricians, mechanics, iron workers, craftsmen, operating engineers and people who perform production, maintenance, construction etc and other forms of labor.

3. Not all office workers can lawfully be paid a salary

For overtime entitlement, it is mandatory that an employee receives a salary of at least $455/week and have well defined job duties like management and administration. Often, employers often regardless of job duties do not pay overtime and thus violate the act. Even if the employer does this unintentionally, you may be entitled to a full recovery for all overtime hours worked.

When life does not wait, Why should you? Consult an attorney, so that they take action to help get you the promise you deserve and the money you need.

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4 Workplace Rights You Need to Know While Working

Do you know your rights at your workplace? Many employers understand labor law and follow them, but in reality many employers regularly defy employment law. To avoid any critical situation, you need to know what your workplace rights are and be careful that your employee follows it.

1. Your employer can not hold back your paycheck for poor performance: No matter what performance you give, your employer has no right to block your salary. Of course, if you really mess up, if you are not following the policies and giving bad performance, you may be fired after a warning but you might get fired, but you still must be paid for all the hours you worked.

2. You must receive your paycheck on time:  Most state laws say how soon you must receive your paycheck after a pay period ends. In some states, an employer is alleged to pay additional money on top of your waged as penalty if your salary is late.

3. Whether you are eligible for lawyer overtime pay is decided by the government: The federal government has divided the job types into: exempt and nonexempt category. If your job is categorized as non-exempt, your employer must pay you overtime for all hours you work above 40 in a week. Your categorization is also determined by government guidelines.

4. Your employer cannot ask you to work off the clock: If you're a non-exempt employee, you are liable to be paid for all the working hours. You can't give up this right.

If your employer is violating any of the law, the most effective first step is to talk to your manager. You will probably get a better outcome, if you consider an overtime lawyer or some specialized lawyer who deals in such cases.

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Learn How To Fight For Your Rights

All employees are legally entitled to receive their wages and overtime pay in a timely manner. Many employees who have not been paid amounts, feel hesitation to complain because they are concerned about being fired or retaliated against. The wage and overtime laws have built-in protections prohibiting such retaliation.

Consult the Unpaid Wages Attorneys immediately if your employer denies to pay your rightful amount. They will fight for your right to get back the amount that your employer did not pay to you. You will get help to recover your following wages:

• Earned bonus and promised bonus
• Vacation
• Earned wages
• Salary
• Commissions

There are various reasons when an employer refuses to pay an employee:

Simply withholds your payment: Many times, the employer violate to the payment policies of the written employment contract. They try to make fool of you. At this time, you can get help to revive your wages, following the legal procedure.

Denies making your final payment: Once you leave the company, an employer can refuse to pay your last month fees or continuously delay to pay off the rightful amount over and over again. At this moment, you need to take a legal action to get back your payment at the earliest.

Unpaid Overtime Fees: Most of the time, employees have to work under pressure and they have to work extra hours. On the other hand, an employer doesn’t bother to pay them extra. Employees get usual wage amount, deducting the extra amount at the time of the payments. Only a legal advice can help you to come out of the situation.

Does Not Pay On Time: It is a common scenario that the employees don’t get wages on time. The employees believe that they can use their employers to the optimum level. It is a kind of exploitation that can be especially seen in the private sector. It is your right to get your hard earned money at the correct time.

The employment contracts are legal and the employee and  the employer are supposed to adhere to the employment contract strictly. Whatsoever is written into the employment contract should be followed strictly on the side of the employer as well as the employee. A legal action can be taken if anyone tries to violate the contract on the part of the employee and the employer. When the employer refuses to pay his employee, it is called as “unpaid wage”.

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Are you paid For Overtime Work? How to Fight for Unpaid Overtime

If you work overtime hours your employer should pay you the overtime premium rate. If you’re owed overtime pay you can recover the unpaid wages, interest on the unpaid amount, and penalties that the law requires the employer to pay.

To determine if you are permitted to overtime pay, you should make sure you are liable. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employer to pay minimum wage and overtime. Employers should follow the act unless the employee is exempted. Unfortunately, some employers take the benefit of the many different laws, paying employees less than what they deserve.

If you have overtime payment problems with your employers, consider the following tips that can help.

• Read and understand the law of overtime compensation: Fair Labor Standards Act state that, if an employee works for more than forty hours per week he is allowed for overtime compensation at the rate of 1.5 times the regular rate.

• Some employees are not entitled for overtime: You should first check whether you are liable for overtime pay. If you are an executive, administrative or computer employees, you may not be liable for it. Only non-exempt employees are eligible for overtime compensation.

• Have all the facts in writing before you sue: According to FLSA, overtime attorney should be hired after you collect all the written documents like payroll records, employment policies and other important evidences for the court.

• The labor law is constantly changing: You should considerably consult a lawyer, if you have queries about overtime compensation.

You can file a case if you are an unpaid overtime payment. If the employee wins the claim or lawsuit will be paid the amount of wages that the employer failed to pay.

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Not Getting Paid For Overtime? It's Time To Call Law Firm!

When you work overtime, you expect to be paid for it. And that includes wages above your salary. Per hour you get paid extra money and if your employer is cheating you out of your earned salary, it time to call overtime law firm. They will make sure that you get not only your salary but also the extra compensation for harassment you went through. If you are looking for compensation, hen there few important factors you need to keep in mind:

Proof of the overtime hours:

Having a solid proof of the time you worked for your company  is the utmost important thing. Otherwise you would be denied your right and could even lose in the court.

Ask your employer for the compensation:

You have the legal right to ask your employer the extra compensation and if he is refusing to grant your pay, then ask your lawyer. He will contact your office and explain them to pay your wages or legal action would be taken against them.

Legal law:

Businesses pay time and half rate to employees who put in 40 hours in a  week. Whether the employee is part time or full time if you are working extra hours, then employer has to pay additional wages.

Some of the companies try to misrepresent the federal law by tricking the employees to work extra as a favor to your company. And sometimes employees do it as a favor to their superior. Search carefully for the overtime law firms in your area. Most of the attorney provide free consultation regarding your case and you pay them if you win the case and you got your worth.

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Know Your Rights!- What If You Aren't Getting Compensated For Your Overtime?

Overtime hours worked by the employees have to be compensated from the employer as it is their right. And if the employer is cutting losses and refusing to pay for overtime, it is time to file a lawsuit for your unpaid wages. There are different factors that play a part for you to claim a legit compensation.

Standard minimum wages:

You must be paid the minimum wage for the hours you have worked for or the agreed wage at the time of contract. And if your employer is refusing to pay that rate, then you should file a lawsuit.

Overtime wages:

If you are working overtime, then you should be paid extra than the normal wages. Under the law governed differently by different states, the overtime wages have to paid if the forty hour weekly limit of the employee is being exceeded and the wages should be one hundred fifty percent of your regular rate. And if your employer is failing to pay you overtime, then you will have legit claim to pursue lawsuit against your employer.  

 Penalty fees:

By law, the employer is to pay additional penalty along with the unpaid wages. The attorney fees also has to be paid in addition to the the money you spend in  pursuing the case. If you win the lawsuit, then every additional cost you spent for the case, the penalty, the overtime pay will have to be paid to you.

Rate of interest:

State laws have regulations regarding the unpaid or overtimes wages and one has to be paid along with the rate of interest which is liquidated damage. The amount that is charged over the unpaid wages is set as lieu of interest, to be awarded to employee who has successfully proven the charges against the employer under federal law.

So these are the some basic overtime payment regulations and if your employer is breaking the law by violating the agreement, it is time to hire a law firm for filing the lawsuit.

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How Records Can Help You Win Your Unpaid Wages Case?

Unpaid wages lawsuits are filed in the situations where an employee is cheated out of fair payments by the employer. It can be either not paying minimum wages or overtime to workers. And, there are many other ways that employers use to avoid paying fair wages to workers. However, once the lawsuit is filed with the help of a professional lawyer for unpaid wages, an employee can surely hope for justice.

However, you need appropriate evidence to prove your case. And, records can be very helpful for your lawsuit. How? Here is the answer –

To prove your claim in court – Records can help your case in court by justifying your claim for unpaid wages. Records of your logging in or logging out, breaks, holidays and overtime can be the evidence of the hours you have worked for your employer. This proves that the company paid you less than you deserved on the basis of your hours spent working in a regular work week.

However, you need to be sure that you were not working off the clock, which is the time that an employer makes the worker work before they have logged in their systems or after they have logged out. But, you should know that the company is liable to pay for that time too.

Evidence in your lawsuit – These records will be the biggest evidence in your unpaid wages lawsuit and prove your claim. Court accepts records as the proof on the behalf of plaintiff.

However, it may be difficult for you to understand the complexities of lawsuit, unpaid wages law etc. You might need professional legal help to sort everything out and get the decision in your favor. Hire a professional attorney to represent your case against the employer and claim justice along with financial compensation.

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A Few Unpaid Wages Situations

According to the federal and state laws, all the rights of the workers are secured. No employer has the right to deny the desired compensation or wages to employees. However, there are situations when the employers wrongfully deny the wages that their workers rightfully deserve. The most common unpaid wages situations are -

• Refusing to pay the minimum wage – This is a common unpaid wages situation where the employer tends to pay less than the minimum wages. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. However, there are some states that have greater payments per hour as well as protection.

• 
  Refusing to pay bonus and commission - It is the situation where an employer refuses to pay bonus and commissions that were decided in advance for the job to workers. Different states have different laws regarding the bonus and commission.
  
  For example, in New York, if the commissions are not paid properly, an employer will have to pay triple the damages when complainted about it. In addition, the decided bonus and commission is usually factored into the overtime calculus.

• Refusing to pay overtime - A worker who has worked for more than 40 hours in a workweek, is entitled to get overtime payments. However,many times they are denied their overtime.

• Unlawful deductions from payment - This in another common unpaid wages situation where the employer unnecessarily deducts money from a worker’s payment.

Apart from this, there are many other problems that the employees face on job, which includes doing office work from home, working for some extra time and so on. All these conditions are the violations of law and in any situation, a worker has the right to seek help from a professional FLSA overtime lawyer to receive compensation for their unpaid overtime work.

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Is Your Employer Paying You Your Rightful Wages?

There is no denying the fact that many employers try to avoid paying their workers for the extra working hours. This is the reason why many employees have to struggle for their rightful wages.

If you do not want to face such a situation, then here are some tips that you should follow that will ensure that you get paid for every single minute you have worked -

• Always keep a record of your working hours. This will help you to keep track of your total working hours and total wages that you have received based on your working hours.

• Keep a copy of the workplace policy and procedure manual with you. The manual describes the pay rate, working hours and rules for overtime wages. This will be needed by your lawyer, if you face wage violation.
  

• In case, you haven’t received your overtime wages, ask your colleagues about their overtime wages. If they have been paid for the extra working hour then there might be the case that you are a victim of some discrimination.

• If you are a victim of wage violation and you have sent a written notification to your employer, then first see whether your employer agrees to pay the wages.

• If the employer does not rectify the mistake, then keep a record of your e-mail or a memo. This will help you during your case as the employer might make an excuse that they did not receive any notification from your side.

• There are chances that after receiving your notification, your employer may change your job responsibilities to make you an exempt employee. But you should not worry, as you are still entitled to claim your overtime wages. 
  
  

In case, you face wage violation then you should contact an overtime law firm. The lawyer will fight for your rights and help you get your rightful wages.

Moreover, keeping a track of all the aforementioned things will help you to get things in your favor and receive rightful wages from your employer without prolonged litigation.

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2 Questions To Ask Your Employer To Avoid Overtime Related Issues

According to the law, most workers are entitled to be paid for each hour they spend working over 40 hours in a regular workweek. However, overtime related issues are still one of the most common wage related problems that employees face. Employers may use various tricks to pass up the payment of overtime.

But, you can avoid these issues. How? Before starting a job, you must ask your employers the following questions.

1.       Is your occupation exempt from overtime?

First thing you need to clear with your employers is whether the job you are joining is exempt from overtime laws or not. You should know that many occupations fall under this exemption category, which makes those employees exempt from fair wages. By clearing this fact, you can ensure that you will be paid for the extra hours (If any).

 2.       What is included in overtime?

This should be your next question. You should know what is included in the overtime category. Whether you are told to come to office few minutes earlier (before log in) or to stay late to complete your work, you are entitled to the payment for those extra hours.

Some employers trick workers into working before they log in or after they log out, so that there is no evidence of extra hours’ worked. But, employees should know that it still falls under overtime and they should get paid for those hours and work.

Before you start working on a job, you should clear up the above mentioned points with your employers. If you are still facing issues in getting paid for those extra hours, then you should raise questions regarding it with your employer or higher authorities in the company.

If you do not get justice from your company, then you should consult an unpaid overtime lawyer. The attorney can provide you legal counsel regarding this situation. They can also help you find out the best possible method of getting your unpaid overtime.

   

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