RIGHTS TO KNOW : WHEN ARE YOU ENTITLED TO OVERTIME WAGES?

Have you been conned by your employer and not been paid your rightful wages? Instead of getting the check for overtime, you have got the same wages that you normally get? That could mean that you are getting robbed of your earned pay which you rightfully deserve. If the answer is yes, then you are at the right place. In this article, you will get to learn the overtime laws which every employee should be well aware of in order to know how much overtime pay they have earned. Also, in which instances, they are eligible for the overpay and when they need to hire an overtime attorney for unpaid wages.

OVERTIME PAY:

What is Overtime pay? In order to know what your employer owes you, it is prudent that you learn that the federal law for overtime. The overtime wages required to pay to any worker are under the conditions:

• If the worker is working more than eight hours a day
• If the worker is working more than forty hours a week.
  
  
  
  
  

Which implies that if the worker is working for extra hours, then he would be paid an amount which is ⅕ times what is usually paid to the employee. Though, it is to be made certain that not every worker is not eligible for overtime pay. There are many exemptions to certain job types, in which an employee is not paid their due.

EXEMPTIONS FOR THE OVERPAY:

There are three types of exemptions in which an employer is not suppose to pay for the overtime you put after the regular working hours.

• Administrative exemption: Under this, the employees working in office performing non-manual work which requires discretion, judgement and other administrative work is considered as important to the organization.

• Executive exemption: In this exemption, the employee must either be manager of the business, involved in administrative work of directing the employees, their hiring and firing the staff.

• Professional exemption: Under this, the employee must be graduated in a specialized academic degree, or their work involves artistic or creative sense and they must have  position that requires a use of their knowledge in area of science and learning such as lawyers, teachers, and doctors.

CALCULATING THE REGULAR PAY:

Calculating the regular pay can be tricky. Depending on you hourly rate, the overtime pay can also increase. The following compensation factors can help you in calculating the regular pay:

• Bonuses for the production
• End of the year bonus
• Bonus given with non-discretion
• Total bonuses earned
• Shift differentials
• Wage increases
• Compulsory services tips or gratuities
• Standby pay
• Stipends
  

  

The worker’s regular wages are used for the calculation of the overtime pay. Make sure when you get the overtime check, it is calculated with the above mentioned factors. This will increase your overtime wages substantially. If the employer is giving you the pay for the extra hours based on the regular wages without considering these factors, then you have the right to ask your employer for your rightful earnings. Hire an overtime attorney if you are not getting your deserving wages, keeping in mind the aforementioned points.

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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.

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  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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Employers’ wage schemes that every employee should be aware of

What an employee wants after working long hours for employer? To be paid fairly. You may not be aware of this but many employers use various tricks, schemes and methods aimed at deceiving their workers when it comes to wages. They trick employees into obtaining wages lower than what they truly deserve.

However, here is how employers scheme employers into getting less salary or no overtime. You should be aware –

If they are making you work before sign in or after sign off – You are entitled to get overtime if you are still finishing work after working hours or you started before signing in. If your boss is making you work even after signing off or before signing in, then you must claim overtime. It is a common trick that one uses to get a job done without paying a single penny.

If they are not paying you appropriately for overtime hours – You should be aware of the fact that overtime rate is time and a half of the hours. If you are not getting this rate for your extra hours’ work, then you should claim fair wages. Sometimes, companies pay simple salaries along with tips instead of appropriate overtime. It is against the law and a violation of your wage related rights.

Some bosses may tell you that you are not entitled for overtime since you are being paid on the salary basis. You must check if you fit in the overtime category according to regulations.

If they are making you work even in breaks or lunch – Many employers make their workers complete tasks in breaks or lunch time. It makes you entitled for overtime, which is usually not paid by bosses. You should be aware of these schemes to avoid getting tricked.

If there are illegal deductions in your salary – You should be aware of any deduction in your salary. You must demand answers from bosses if there are illegal deduction in your payment. Many employers deduct employees’ salaries illegally for invalid reasons like improper or missing uniform.

If you are a victim of any of the above mentioned situations, then you must contact an unpaid wages lawyer to know about your legal options. Your lawyer can suggest you the best legal action in these situations, so that you can claim your rightful payment.

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Wage and hour obligations that your Employer Must Comply with

Every employee deserves fair pay, but increasing incidents of wage theft tell different story. Many employers use a number of tricks to violate their wage and hour obligations in order to have that extra money in their account. If you do not want to become such victim, you need to ensure that your employer is abiding by the following-

Recordkeeping- An employer is responsible for precisely maintaining the record of actual work hours for every employee. It is essential for every employer to ensure that the records of an employee’s work hours are secure and are accessible whenever required. Thus, you should ensure that your employer is doing that, whether your employer uses a time sheet, time clock or computerized time clock for that.

Fair Pay- It is essential for an employer to ensure that every employee is paid fairly, which means that employer has to comply with the minimum wages and overtime requirements properly. It is equally important to ensure that all employees are receiving equal pay and no one is discriminated with incorrect pay compared to what other workers are getting.

Correct Classification- one of the main tricks that employers use to avoid paying overtime is by misclassifying their employees. They misclassify their workers as exempt when in actual they are not. Hence, it is necessary for you ensure that your employer has classified you correctly based on your salary and job responsibilities.

In case, you have become victim of the wage and hour violations, it is important for you to get in touch with a lawyer for unpaid wages. You can get your case evaluated from a professional lawyer for no cost, as they offer free consultation and charge no fee until they win the case for you. Your lawyer will fight to help your protect your rights and get you all lost wages that you are entitled to receive. It is all about your employee rights and there is no place for any compromises.

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Are you being paid for your overtime?

It is a sad truth that many employers cheat their workers out of their due wages. Such employees often have to struggle to get their hard-earned money. If you are amongst such workers, following are few tips that will help you fight for your rights and ensure that you are paid for your work-

• Keep track of your working hours. Do not rely on the employer that he would tell you the exact working hours.
• Every workplace makes their employees sign a contract. To be on the safe side, you should keep a copy of the contract with you. This will help you ensure your rights, if company breaches the contract.
• Company also has their policy and procedure manual. You should make sure you have one with you. This will give you a thorough knowledge of the dos and don’ts of your company’s policy.
• Never hesitate to ask wages for your extra working hours. Also, ask your colleagues whether they were paid for every extra work they put in. In case, you find evidence of discrimination then contact an unpaid wages lawyer.
• Always voice your concern, if you are not being paid for your work. If done unintentionally or due to some mistake, employer will definitely remedy the problem.
• If verbal communication does not solve your problem, then you must make a formal complaint through an e-mail or a memo. The written complain should include date and time so that you have a proof of it, in case the employer claims that he was not informed by you before.
• At times of written complain, employer may use a trick of changing your job responsibilities, in order to prove that you were being exempt from your duties. In such cases too, you have the right to claim your past overtime wages. 

From the aforementioned tips will help you handle such issues, if employer does not pay your wages.

If you are not able to handle such issue on your own, seeking help from an overtime lawyer is advisable. Discuss your case with the attorney and make sure all paper work is completed. The paper work should include detailed list of working hours with other points, after all the wages will be calculated on the bases of working hours.

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Are you not aware with the rights of legal workplace and employment?

Are you working in an organization and not aware with the rights of the rights of legal work place and employment? Well if yes, then it is the time to take assistance from the employment lawyer. Employment lawyer is an expert in law field.

Under the assistance of the lawyer, that you choose will guide you about the legal workplace and labor rights, you may get rid of your problems of employment that you are going through. There are numerous employment violations that you may not even get an idea when your employer may debar your rights.

Therefore, it is advisable to seek help from lawyer as through their experience they can guide assist you better.

Some of the advantages that your employer will avail from you are as follows-

• cancellation of salary
• not considering extra working time
• Not paying commission to the employee
• intentionally paying bounced paycheck
• Not paying for overtime
• not paying for extended work hours

If you are facing above problems, then it is high time to take help of a professional unpaid wages attorney. If for an instance you win the case, you will be getting legal and lawyer fees from the employer. This is because of the employer that you had to seek help from the court and spend money to fight for your rights.

However, before filling case against your employer, you should not only contact a lawyer but at the same time, you should keep some evidences against your employer that will help you to make your case even more strong. Moreover, you should finds it out whether the case was genuine, as in many cases it is seen that the employer is not the defaulter rather faults from bank errors can be the cause of delay in receiving salaries from employer side.

The other important thing that you need to consider is choosing right lawyer. It is important aspect, as your case depends much on the lawyer. Therefore, make sure that the lawyer not only holds good reputation among other reputed lawyers but has years of experience in practicing law in this field. Moreover, he should be able to solve your case effortlessly so that there is no chance of defeat.

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When do you Need Help from a FLSA Overtime Attorney?

There are strict wage related laws in the United States of America, yet some employers use different tricks for not paying fair wages to their employees, which is the violation of FLSA guidelines.

To ensure that you do not become victim of wage theft, it is essential for you to know your entitlements.

Below mentioned are some of the mostly reported wage related cases. In case you fall victim to such a situation, you must consult a FLSA overtime attorney immediately to legally claim your wages -

• Many cases have been reported where employers do not track and calculate the total hours worked by their employees. If your employer does the same, it can be an intentional trick for not paying overtime pay.
• You must know that your employer needs to pay minimum wages set by the law. Find out the minimum wages in your state and make sure you are getting paid fairly, other do not hesitate to file a claim.
• If your employer makes you work off the clock (during the shift or in the mandatory meal breaks), it is wage and hour violation.
• Many employers misclassify their employees’ type of employment to avoid paying overtime compensation.
• Some employers make their employees work pre-shift or post-shift without any compensation. You are entitled to receive pay for every pre-shift or post-shift work.
• If you have already raised your voice against the wage and hour violations, but became a victim of retaliation, a professional lawyer can provide you the needed protection given by the law.

If you believe your employer is not paying you the money you are entitled to receive, get in touch with a professional unpaid wages lawyer immediately.

Your lawyer can offer you a free consultation to help you understand your legal position. Some experienced lawyers do not even charge any fee until they win the case for you. Therefore, under no circumstance, you should compromise with your employee rights.

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What are the wage rights of computer professionals in the US?

Computers have taken over the world and the demand of computer professionals has increased accordingly. In the US, there are millions of people that work in computer related fields. But, what are their wage rights? How do computer professional fare when it comes to wages? Are they covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)?

Here are the wages and overtime related details that an IT worker in the US needs to know. Please note that certain states may have additional protections, like Pennsylvania, which may demand that computer professionals receive overtime.

According to law, people on selected careers in IT industry may be exempt from overtime if their classification and actual job duties dictate it. They include –

• Computer systems analysts
• Programmers
• Software engineers
• Other equally skilled professionals in this field

But, this exemption is for those workers that are receiving

• At least $455 per week (salary basis)
• At least $27.63 per hour

Their designation or job titles have nothing to do with this exemption, but the substantive work means everything. For example, if you hire a computer professional for $455 a week and make him or her work 60 hours and then just have them clean the floors, then they would not be entitled to the exemption. If they do actual programming, then they might. But be warned, in certain states the workers may still be entitled to overtime.

The Employees’ responsibilities play an essential role in this exception to overtime in the regulations. The Federal Law has demarcated several job responsibilities and if your work matches these pre-defined options, then you are most like exempt from overtime under Federal laws. These job responsibilities include –

• Systems’ analysis techniques and process application
• System’s design & development, documentation
• System’s analysis, testing or modification
• Computer program’s design, testing, and more

An IT worker that performs the above mentioned job responsibilities do not fall under federal law.

Furthermore, workers that heavily depend on computers for their work still fall under the protections of the minimum wages and overtime laws of the FLSA. But, if employers fails to show that the employee is properly exempt under the law, then the worker has every right to for overtime pay for the extra hours and work.

Many IT workers think that if they are salaried, then they are not eligible for overtime. In addition, they also think that they are not entitled to overtime. If your occupation falls under the minimum wages and overtime laws, then you have the right to receive fair payments. If the employer refuses to pay you proper amount, then you should contact an unpaid wages lawyer.

Attorneys can help you in getting your fair payments, back wages, as well as compensations for the damages (if required). The Attorneys can also guide you regarding state’s payment laws since some states mandate that even IT professionals are paid properly.

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Celebrities and unpaid wages – A long history!

Unpaid wages are a serious problem that have been increasingly been reported in different industries and the film and television industry is not an exception. Every once in a while cases emerge where a celebrity faces an overtime lawsuit due to unpaid wages. There is a long list of these cases.

Recently, a lawsuit was filed against the famous singer and musician Courtney Love. A claim was made by a writer for not receiving payments for his work on the singer’s biography. Previously, Ms. Love’s former aid took legal action against the singer for breach of contract and unpaid salary, as well as accusations of wrongful termination. Just because someone makes a claim for wages, doesn’t mean they are correct, but there is also the perception by celebrities and industries such as the NFL that is a privilege to even be affiliated with them, so they may try to cajole individuals to do work for little or no pay. 

Renowned chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in Los Angeles (LA) was sued for unpaid salaries and overtime. This lawsuit was filed by the former employees of restaurant. In 2010, the famous singer Rihanna also faced the allegation of unpaid wages by her trainer. Trainer claimed that the singer owes her almost $26,100 for personal training services.

Comedian and actress Wendy Williams faced the allegation of not paying fair salaries to an ex-intern. An unpaid wages complaint was made against the singer and songwriter Anita Baker by her lawyer. In this lawsuit, the lawyer demanded $69,000.

It is not only celebrities that face allegations of not paying fair payments to their employees. Sometimes, even stars are stuck in the same situation. Recently soccer star Ivan Franjic left the Russian club Torpedo Moscow. He left this club over the claims of not receiving proper payments.

All these cases show that even celebrities are not safe from unfair payments and lawsuits. If you have also fallen victim to this situation, no matter who the employer is, then you should immediately contact an experienced and professional unpaid wages and overtime lawyer. An experienced attorney can help you in getting your wages for the hours worked and possibly even double or triple damages, plus attorney’s fees.

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Who can assist you in getting your unpaid wages?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law that protects wages and other rights of employees in America. Still, many workers fall victim to wage theft and unpaid salaries. Employers find different methods like falsely claiming an exempted position or employee contract to trick workers out of their fair wages. Usually, they trick employees in overtime, bonuses, paychecks, and commissions, breaks, off the clockwork, vacations, or leave.

There are many different government agencies charged with investigating wage theft, but the government is not incentivized to zealously protect your rights. Government workers receive a salary no matter what happens to your case, they are graded statistically on them resolving cases, not necessarily by the quality of the resolution. In contrast, most private attorneys who litigate wage and hour disputes are not paid unless they win your case, so they have ever incentive to win your case and win big, if feasible.

You can contact an unpaid wages attorney to file a lawsuit against your employer. Usually, lawyers first speak with you at length about your case and determine if this affects many other people. If so, it may be brought as a class or collective action which can try to maximize your recovery and remedy an injustice. In contrast to a government settlement, if your case is brought as a class, the lawyers will try to get you an incentive award above and beyond your maximum relief that you may be entitled to by law.

In off the clock claims, as the plaintiff you have the burden of proof and you need to provide proper evidences of wage theft. It may include records of work hours (whether on paper or electronic), paychecks etc. and evidence contradicting the paid hours. If you are classified as exempt from overtime and the employer makes you work many hours claiming your salaried, the employer has the burden of proof. For example, if they call you an account manager and try to say your exempt from overtime but you don’t manage any people, they may have misclassified you and you may be entitled to overtime for all those overtime hours worked.

What can you get from lawsuit?

Under Federal Law, Workers can get back payments if they win lawsuit in court. They might also get an equal amount for the liquidated damages. In addition, the attorney's fees are often paid separately. Each state may also have other damages you are entitled to.

You should discuss with your lawyer about the compensations or other fees you may receive on winning the unpaid salary case.

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How Some Employers Exploit Tipped Employees?

No matter what your job is (waiter, bartender, busboy, or any other profile for that matter) earning tips at work requires hard work. Sooner or later, you will realize that making a living wage on tips depends on whether or not customers choose to tip well enough and whether the company plays games with the tip process. Unfortunately, many of the tipped employees do not know about the tip credit provisions and unscrupulous employers take advantage of the process.

If the amount of tips you regularly receive is more than $30 per month, you may be considered as tipped employee. You are entitled to keep your tips with you, but it also means that your employer can claim a tip credit.

To comply with the minimum wage regulations, your employer needs to still pay wages of at least $2.13 per hour, as the employer can claim up to $5.12 per hour as a tip credit. If your employer uses this credit then it suggests that your employer expects you to receive minimum tip of $5.12 per hour. The employer must provide you all the mandatory information before claiming a tip credit.

However, if the company does not provide you the mandatory information about the tip credit, it may be held accountable for unpaid wages and/or a tip credit violation. If you have any uncertainties regarding this, you can discuss your situation with a professional overtime and unpaid wages lawyer.

Nonetheless, your employer must notify you about few things such as below-

• The cash wage he is paying you should be at least $2.13 per hour.
• The additional amount claimed as tip credit cannot go beyond $5.12 per hour.
• The tip credit claimed cannot go over the amount of tip you actually receive.
• You are entitled to keep your tips, unless there is any tip pooling agreement restricted to workers that usually receive tips. This is an important issue! The company itself and/or management is not allowed to keep a portion of your tips.
• No tip credit will apply to any of the tipped workers that have not been educated about the tip credit conditions.
• Overtime for time and a half is not $3.25 an hour! Overtime is the non-tipped minimum wage $7.25 with time and half, then subtracting the tip credit, which should put the hourly base rate at least $5 an hour for overtime.

If you believe that your employer has failed to tell you the required information about tip credits, you may be able to collect your lost wages. Speak with a professional lawyer to have your situation evaluated. You can book a free telephonic consultation session with these attorneys and you do not need to pay them any fee unless they win your case.

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How Can An Overtime Lawyer Help You?

Increasing wage and hour issues indicate that more and more employers are deliberately violating guidelines of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to minimize labor expenses and increase their profits. Employers use numerous tricks to achieve their goals of wage theft. If you believe that your employer is violating your wage rights, you should raise your voice and seek help from a wage and overtime law firm.

Following are some of the situations when you should seek help from a labor lawyer to help get justice and resolve your present situation-

Misclassification of Employees- According to wage and hour laws, it is essential for employers to pay overtime to employees that are classified as non-exempt. However, many employers deliberately misclassify their employees as “salaried” to avoid paying money they are entitled to receive. Just because someone is salaried, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be paid overtime!

Off the Clock Work-Employees are entitled to receive pay for all hours worked. However, in many situations, employers make their employees clock out and then work. It is against the law to make an employee work while they have signed off and workers are entitled to receive pay for this time.

No Minimum and Overtime Wages- It is essential for employers to pay their employees at least minimum federal wages and state wages for the state they reside. They also need to pay at least one and one-half times of their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Not complying with these rules means that workers can seek help from a labor and employment attorney to file a case against the employer.

No Pay for Pre-shift and Post-shift- Many employees are not aware about their rights and become victim of wage theft in various situations. Employers mislead workers by passing information that pre-shift and post-shift work is not compensable. Such work may include security sweeps, computer boot up time, looking for a work station or waiting for a boss to arrive. Hence, it is essential for workers to know their employment rights.

Retaliation- The law protects employees from retaliation after they have raised issues associated with wage and hour violations. If an employer fires, demotes, or changes duties of their employees after the reporting of wage issues, it can be considered retaliation.

These are some of the situations in which you would need to discuss your circumstances with an experienced law firm to have your case evaluated.

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Common Wage and Hour Violation Mistakes that Every Employer Must Avoid

With each passing year, the numbers of wage and hour violation cases are increasing. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), it is mandatory for employers to pay their employees correctly, based on the numbers of hours worked. In case your employer fails to comply with the FLSA guidelines, you have the right to file a legal claim with the assiatance of unpaid overtime lawyers.

 

To have a better understanding of the wage and hour violations and to ensure that you don’t become a victim, you should go through the information given below.

• Many employers deliberately misclassify their workers as exempt from overtime and claim they are salaried. However, it is necessary for employers to make sure that the job duties of workers is in accordance with one of the exemptions from overtime, before they can be classified as exempt. The employer must prove the exemption and everyone has a different threshold to meet. Don’t let the employer trick you into thinking you are salaried and not entitled to overtime – in fact, you may very well still be entitled to it.
• There are certain situations in which employers need to pay for the travel time, but unfortunately, not many employers bother about it. If an employee has been asked to come back at work because of an urgent work, travel time may be compensable in such situations. There are also few other situations when workers are entitled to receive compensation for the travel time. Sometimes going to the first or last job site is not compensable, but traveling to other sites between the first and last generally is.
• Many employers also take advantage of unpaid breaks. According to FLSA, any break under 20 minutes should be paid. For meal breaks the employee is entitled to a free uninterrupted meal time. If the employer doesn’t pay for meal time, but doesn’t relieve the employee fully from their duties, the employee may be entitled to overtime.
• Not paying overtime to employees is one of the most crucial wage and hour violation mistakes. However, some of them do it deliberately while others do it unintentionally. Generally, it is done to save money so the owners make more, the shareholders make more or the managers receive a bigger bonus by keeping time under control.
• Improper record keeping is another mistake which can be used against the employer.

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Know Your Rights to Get Fair Wages!

Every citizen of the United States has some fundamental rights, which they must be aware of. One such fundament right says that all the workers must be compensated fairly for their labor. According to this right, not only do salaried individuals stand to receive their monthly income, they may also be entitled to receive payment for extra working hours.

It is of paramount importance that every worker knows what rights are to protect oneself from being exploited by an unscrupulous employer. Knowing the law and how it pertains to overtime is essential otherwise, dishonest employers will find it very easy to trick you and keep you deprived of your rightful money.

Laws regarding overtime were constituted in the 1930s in order to protect workers from greedy employers. The economy has come a long way since then, and with the evolution of the economy some employers have tried to fairly coincide with the laws, while other evolve to find ways to deprive employees of the money that this theirs and feast on it for their own gluttony and greed.

The rules regarding overtime in the US are simple. The Fair Labor Standards Act says that if someone works beyond forty hours a week, the worker must be paid overtime, unless they have a lawful exemption from overtime. If there is an exemption, the employer has the burden of justifying it and sometimes that is a very complicated road to hoe.

To calculate the overtime, an employer will have to first calculate a worker’s standard hourly wage. Beyond 40 hours, workers must be paid 1.5 times of that standard hourly wage rate. Let us understand this with an example. If you are an employee who makes twenty dollars an hour, then according to this fair wages rule, you must be paid thirty dollars for every single hour beyond standard working period, which is 40 hours. Sometimes, the worker is also paid things like night differential or other premiums which must be factored into the overtime calculus. If it’s not there’s a violation that’s actionable.

Some professionals are exempted from this privilege. The FLSA has put a few occupations under the exempted category (meaning people in those professions do not stand to receive overtime compensation). The FLSA puts people into this category whose job and work responsibilities are managerial or executive in nature. Oftentimes, though, they falsely use this so one must speak to a professional to understand whether you should be paid overtime. For example, if you’re an account manager, but no one reports to you, you are probably are not properly classified as exempt from overtime under the professional exemption.

Sometimes a job title can be quite vague, which creates a loophole for companies to take unethical advantage of it. Companies do that by making employees work for more than standard hours, by making their job profile look ambiguous and considering them as exempted employees, even when they are not. If you feel you are being victimized the same way, you can hire an unpaid overtime lawyer to claim the unpaid compensation that belongs to you.

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Claim your Unpaid Overtime by Hiring a Lawyer

In an economy, which is constantly prone to ups and down, it is sometimes hard to make ends meet. This is why people will go extra lengths at work in order to keep a job and afford the daily expenses. People often do that by working overtime and spending extra hours in addition to regular working hours and sometimes the company does not properly pay them for all their hours worked.

To make sure people are fairly paid for the work they do, there are several federals laws, state laws, and regulations that govern how employees must be paid. There are specific laws that determine the minimum wage as well as minimum payment for every hour worked as overtime. The one most frequently invoked is the Fair Labor Standards Act, known as the FLSA, which sets the minimum wage and overtime protocols under Federal Law.

However the bitter truth is that despite all these laws, there are some employers who exploit their employees by not paying overtime or pay or make people work off the clock and pay less than minimum wage.

If your employer is shorting you wages, do not just sit back, instead stand up, and raise your voice. You can hire a lawyer for unpaid wages to fight for your rights. Most overtime lawyers work purely on contingency which means they are not paid for commencing an overtime lawsuit unless they win your case.

According to federal law, if a person has spent forty hours in a week working for his company, he will be entitled to receive overtime payment for every additional hour spent working unless there is an FLSA exemption.

However, there are certain exceptions to the rule. For instance there are some professions in which people are not entitled to demand overtime payment. Each position has its exception and the exception to its exception, so it’s best to consult with a lawyer who is experienced in filing wage and hour complaints.

Hard working people should be rewarded for their work, especially when it leads to the success of the company, but some employers fail to realize that. In fact they fail to keep their end of the deal and look for ways to cut corners to line their own pockets further. In such situations, the only solution is to raise your voice, and a lawyer will help you do that. But remember that such cases are often highly time-sensitive and any delay may result in you losing some of your damages. Most calls to overtime law firms are confidential and free, so there is no downside to educate yourself about your rights.

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Are You Getting Paid for Overtime at Work?

How would it feel, if you do not get paid for the all extra hours you have worked or are still working. Employees, who are not aware of their employee rights, or are forced to work in oppressive work conditions because of the poor economy are vulnerably to become the victims of labor and employment violations.

As an employee, do you have any unpaid overtime wages? If you are unsure or have no information about this, keep on reading.

When we talk about unpaid wages, it includes situations such as:

• Working before or after your scheduled work shift without any compensation
• Receiving less than minimum wage
• Not being paid for overtime work or claiming that you are salaried so they can work you as many hours as they want for the same rate
• Performing work after clocking out

Well, if you are one of these hard working employees and you believe that your employer is violating state or federal wage laws, raise your voice to raise your wages. Filling a lawsuit is another option for you. For that, you would need a lawyer for unpaid wages to get the justice you deserve. Find a lawyer who has appropriate knowledge of the labor code and someone who can stand with you to vindicate your rights.

You may be entitled to double damages plus your attorney fees paid directly from the defendant. After listening and understating the whole scenario, your lawyer can develop and suggest strategies of the process

Many lawyers in the industry will fight your case with no money up front unless you win. The consultation is confidential and no information will be disclosed to your employer or to the outside world unless you decide to file suit. It’s best to learn your options from a law firm experienced in overtime litigation.

It is strongly recommended that every employee who suspects there may be some sort of wage violation consult with a law firm who has knowledge and information about state and federal wage laws. This will help prevent you from becoming a victim of unpaid or minimum wage violations.

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