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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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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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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Are you sure that you are getting fair pay at work?

All employees are entitled to receive fair pay regardless of whether they are paid by the hour, are part time or even salaried. Unfortunately, many employers use different tricks to keep the hard-earned money of their employees in their account. Increasing numbers of incidents associated with wage and hour violations is a wakeup call for every employee.

Hence, it is essential for every employee to be aware of their rights as well as the tricks used by employers to commit wage theft. Some of common tricks that employers use to violate wage and hour violations are-

• Employers could ask their employees to work “off the clock”. Such work can be anything like warming up a piece of equipment or helping other workers to end their shift. There you need to remember that it is illegal and you are entitled to receive pay for such activities.
• Many employees ask their workers to do work related activities when they are on their mandatory meals, which is against the law. No employer can ask you to work while on your mandatory 30 minute meal break.
• You are entitled to receive overtime for all hours worked over 40 in a working week. But employers use tricks such as misclassification of the employee or unapproved overtime to prevent overtime payment. If it is happening to you, it means you are not getting a fair pay.
• Many employees have limited information about their rights and employers take advantage of that by telling them that pre-shift and post-shift work is not compensable. Remember, you should get paid for every work related activity.
• You must receive at least the minimum wages set by the law from your employer. However, some employers do pay workers below the standard hourly rate that is illegal and one can take legal actions against it.

Hence, if you believe that you are not getting a fair pay and your employer is violating your employee rights, you must get in touch with a professional FLSA overtime attorney. These experts can evaluate and process your case without any fee, as you do not need to pay them until they win the case for you.

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How Are The Most Common Types Of Wage Theft?

The number of cases for wage theft is at rise in the United States. Wage theft is an illegal act in which employer refuses to pay fair payments to their employees. It often occurs when the employer deliberately shorts the employee pay, or confuses the employee regarding the pay and their wage and hour rights.

While there are many federal and state laws to prevent this illegal act, many employers still manage to find a way to cheat their workers out of their fair payments.

Below mentioned are the most common types of wage theft–

alaries etc. to their employees. It includes t of their fair payments. But what is wage theft?

• Overtime – Many employers refuses to pay overtime to employees for all the extra work and hours they have spent in office. According to the law, workers have the right to overtime for each hour they spend working after 40 work hours in a regular workweek. In addition, there are several exemptions for overtime based on employees’ occupations. You need to confirm with your boss and lawyer if you do or do not fall under the exempt category. If you are a non-exempt worker, then your boss is liable to pay for each hour you work over 40 (in a week). Even if your employer pays you on a salary basis, you may still be entitled to overtime if they’ve misclassified you.
• Minimum Wage – This is another category in which employers do wage theft. The law has determined the minimum wage that bosses have to pay to their employees. Many companies try to cheat their staff out of proper pay. They decline to pay the minimum wage amount to workers, which is a violation of law. This may happen in a number of ways including improperly claiming a tip credit against minimum wage. Also, some states have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage and the employer is obligated to pay the higher of the two, not the lower!
• Improper deductions in pay – Many companies illegally subtract a certain amount from their employee’s pay. The deduction may be for a lunch period that a worker does not have which is free and uninterrupted, or a mandatory assessment for equipment that the employer was supposed to provide.
• Employee misclassification – Many companies try to trick their employees out of their salaries by wrongly classifying them in a different manner. They try to describe workers occupations as independent contractors so that they can be exempted from benefits like minimum salaries, overtime, and more. They also may call them managers when they only manage phones and not people.
• Working off the clock– Some employers make their workers work off the clock, which is also a violation of the law.

What you should do if you fall victim to wage theft?

The FLSA, or Fair Labor Standards Act allows a private right of action. You should contact an FLSA overtime attorney to get comprehensive legal counsel. Overtime lawyers generally only charge if they win your case and offer free consultations.

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