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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How Human Psychology Encourages Wage Violations?

Cases of employers refusing to pay overtime wages and employees not taking action against it are a normal thing in the work places. Employees may not realize it but psychology plays an important role in increasing the risk of unpaid wages. Human psychology affects the way workers behave in the work place in different situations, whether they are good or bad.

Following factors in the workers’ psychology increases the risk of unpaid wages –

Human are social creatures – It is a common phrase that humans are social creatures. It is in their nature to live in groups and try to fit in these groups. In offices, these human psychology forces employees to try to perform better even in worse situations. Workers try very hard to socialize with others, no matter how hard the conditions are for them. When workers do not take any action against the first unfair situation, it encourages employers do it again and again. It can start with forcing to spend some extra hours in office on a weekend without payment, and can go up to the worse conditions like bosses refusing to pay entire week’s overtime.

If no one else is objecting, then why should I – It is another characteristic of human psychology. Usually, when we see that others are not objecting over unfair conditions, we too refrain from taking any action against it. Slowly, it becomes an unspoken rule of the work place. It can lead to unpaid wages since bosses see that their workers do not complain.

People are habitual – We get used to things/situations in a very less time. Not getting paid for the worked hours or overtime slowly becomes a habit.

Loyalty is in human nature – After working for several months or years in the same office, employees become loyal to the company/boss. It becomes hard for them to protest or sue the company, even in case of unfair conditions. People feel compelled to continue working for their boss even if they are not getting paid fairly.

Due to above mentioned characteristics of human psychology, employees risk being wage victims. If you are not getting paid according to your work hours or extra time, contact overtime lawyers to help protect your rights.

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What Legal Options Do You Have When You are Fired Wrongly?

Every year thousands of cases are filed against employers that unlawfully fire their employees for improper reasons. One of the trending reasons behind such incidents is retaliation after they raise voice for their unpaid and overtime wages. Hence, it is necessary for workers to understand that they are protected from terminations or other punishments after speaking up about their wages if they are shorted their lawful pay.

Getting fair pay is the right of every employee and under no circumstance, they should compromise with it. You are entitled to pay for every hour worked. Anything done for the benefit of the employer, such as security checks, folding napkins, booting up a computer is time that should be compensated. If you have any concerns, consulting a professional overtime attorney is highly suggested.

A professional can explain all the laws that protect you in these situations. You can book a free confidential consultation session to have your present situation evaluated. If they find out that your rights were compromised, and that you were wrongfully terminated, you may receive the following damage coverage.

Front Pay- It includes the coverage of lost future earnings and benefits caused by an illegal termination. The idea of the front pay is to visualize the situation where wrongful termination of the employee did not occur and compare it with the present situation. A front pay award will be allowed, if worker is found getting paid less compared to the payments before the wrongful termination.

Back Pay- It includes the calculation of what the employee has earned after the termination and what they would have earned up to the date of verdict, to calculate the damages. However, in some circumstances, the employer can reduce a back pay award, if employer successful proves that the accuser’s mitigation efforts were not good enough.

Emotional Suffering- This is a tricky issue. Most jurors are not sympathetic with emotional suffering in a commercial or business dispute. If there is some degree of sexual harassment in which an employer coerces an employee for sex as a condition for employment, otherwise known as quid pro quo sexual harassment, the employee may be entitled for this recovery. Employee can also receive a compensation for their emotional suffering. However, it is necessary to present evidence that shows a genuine connection between the emotional pain and unlawful act of the employer. It is understandable that sufferers do not always seek medical help for emotional disturbance, but still some credible evidence of the distress is mandatory.

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What Options do You Have When You aren’t Being Paid Fairly?

The law clearly states that every employee is entitled to receive pay for every hour worked. Still the number of complaints for overtime violations and pending wages is increasing day-by-day.  This is due to the bad economy.  Ironically, even in a good economy management still tries to maximize profit and mid-level to high level management receive bonuses at the expense of the workers by keeping labor costs to a minimum.

7 most common ways in which employers usually exploit their employee’s rights are-

1. Asking employees to work while they are “off the clock”

2. Asking them to work through their meal breaks

3. Not providing them a free uniterrupted meal breaks

4. Not paying overtime with one and half of their normal pay rate
 
5. Telling workers that work performed on pre-shift/post-shift hours is not compensable

6. Paying them less than minimum wages set by FLSA

Every employee needs to understand that under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), they must be paid at least minimum wage for normal work hours. Whereas for any work done after their weekly 40 hours’ work, they are entitled to overtime pay. Most of the times, it is calculated by multiplying regular pay rate by 1.5.

If you believe that your rights have been breached, you should seek assistance from a skilled overtime attorney. The overtime lawyer can offer you a free consultation to analyze your present situation and to find out whether you are entitled to file a lawsuit, or not. These wage and hour lawyers may also investigate the matter to determine if this should be filed as an overtime class action, individually, or in some instances not at all. 

They will suggest you to file a lawsuit against the employer after evaluating all the other options. They can protect your rights and help assist you in receiving all owed wages and sometimes it’s possible to receive double or even triples damages with attorney fees paid separately.

Receiving fair pay is the right of every employee and under no circumstance you should compromise on that.

It is strongly recommended to keep track of all your working hours and pay slips to have your situation evaluated properly. It will also support your claims in case you file a lawsuit. Keep policies and procedure manual of your workplace with you to help your attorney with more detailed information.

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How to Obtain Proper Pay from Your Employer?

Many times, employers cheat their employees on their proper pay just to cut corners and save some money. They take advantage of people holding onto their position in the bad economy and get more work done from employees by making them work extra hours and paying less or no extra money.

Some of the most common employer-employee wage and hour disputes are

• Paying less than the Federal or State minimum wage
• Taking a tip credit, but improperly sharing the tips with management
• Improper or illegal Deductions from wages
• Paying an improper day rate
• Not paying overtime
• Extending shifts without paying for the extra time
• Not paying for the work done after shift/pre-shift/during meal breaks.

If you too have fallen victim to any of the aforementioned conditions, you should immediately consult an overtime lawyer.

An experienced attorney may provide you with complete information about your labor rights and labor laws. Following are a few situations in which an accomplished employment lawyer can help you fight for your rights -

Wages – You have a right to be paid for all the hours you’ve worked. If an employer makes you work off the clock, or makes you conduct activities such as go to seminars for the benefit of the employer, the employer is generally liable to pay you for that time.

Overtime – If your employer refuses to pay for hours over 40, then the employer must have an exemption to the labor code which can be fairly complicated. In most cases at minimum if an employer wants to pay via a salary, the employee must be guaranteed $455 a week, but there are still other criteria an employer needs to satisfy. For example, did you know that a chef may properly be paid a salary, but a cook may not!  It’s those subtle distinctions why you should speak with an experienced lawyer who can educate you on your overtime rights.

Improper Deductions – If an employer mandates you use their tools and then deducts it from your pay you may be entitled to obtain that money back. Imagine showing up for a desk job and then an employer charging you to use the computer so you can work? There’s no end to the type of ruses employers use to deprive you of pay, but some deductions are appropriate and some aren’t.

If you are a victim of wage theft, then you should consult with an experienced employment and labor lawyer immediately. Many lawyers offer legal help without any upfront payment.

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