KNOW YOUR RIGHT - OVERTIME LAW AND ITS EXEMPTIONS

Overtime is basically when an employee has to work additional hours than the designated hours of the work. The employers are required to pay for overtime worked by their employees. As per the United States Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the employers violating the overtime law can face overtime lawsuit for unpaid wages. 

• OVERTIME LAWS:

The overtime law states that the employees are to be paid at least the minimum wage for standard hours worked and overtime pay for the extra hours worked. The overtime pay hhs to be one and half times the regular rate of the salary. The standard salary also includes the bonuses and additional benefits and according to that, normal salary is calculated. 

• MINIMIZED LABOR LAWS:
  Sometimes, the employers purposely do not pay the workers to reduce the labor cost. This is considered illegal and it builds grounds for the lawsuit which the employee can pursue if they have been not given:

• minimum wages,
• refusal of overtime wages,
• wrongfully mislead the employee to believe they do not deserve the overtime pay,
• docked the hours worked by the employee to avoid paying them overtime pay.

If the employer violate the overtime laws, then a worker can take legal consultant for deciding the steps he can take for getting the deserving pay. If all the employees in an organization are not getting the overtime pay, then a class-action lawsuit can be filed against the employer for the unfair treatment.

• EXEMPTIONS:
  The exemptions for overtime laws include the workers that fall under the executive and administrative category. There are two aspects that are considered for an employee to get an exemption from overtime law:

Salary Exemption:

• First one is the salary basis in which the employee is paid salary on the basis of the weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis and it is fixed with no deductions because of any reason including the quantity and quality of work.

• The full time employees earning under $47,476 annually will be considered eligible for the overtime pay.

Job Description:

• The second basis for the overtime law exemption is the type of job description an employee has.

• The administrative and executive exemptions are the most common exemptions in the overtime law. The others are more complicated to calculate.

• The executive exemption is given to the employees who have management positions in the business, where they have responsibility of hiring or firing the employees and offer valuable recommendations to the department.

• The type of work performed by the employee regardless of the job description decided whether or not you are an exempt employee. It differs from case to case.

The money that is considered as back pay according to the FLSA is the difference in the money you were to be paid for the overtime hours worked and the wages you were paid. If you file the lawsuit and are successfully able to win the case, then you are entitled to the double the amount of back-pay that you were originally supposed to be paid along with the attorney fees.

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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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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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