You might be owed unpaid overtime pay if you’ve worked more than 40 hours in a week. Your employer must pay you overtime pay at the legally mandated rate unless your job falls into a very specific, narrow job category considered exempt from the overtime rules.
However, many employers try to get around the law and cheat their employees out of what they are owed. An employment lawyer can help you recover what you are owed.
Your Employer Used Common Tactics to Deny You Your Pay
Many employers use illegal tactics to deliberately deny their employees the pay they are due. Others break the law out of ignorance. But in either case, the employees suffer the consequences and they are legally entitled to collect all wages they’ve earned.
Some common pay violations include rounding the work time down to the nearest 15 minute increment, working employees off the clock, and classifying employees as salary exempt when they are eligible for overtime pay. Employers cannot utilize special policies or procedures to pay employees less than what they are owed.
Many employees put up with such behavior, not knowing that it’s wrong or being afraid to speak against their employer. This inaction allows employers who don’t have their employees’ best interests at heart to keep getting away with paying employees far less than they have legally earned.
You Have Unpaid Overtime Pay and Are Possibly Misclassified
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law which entitled hourly employees to overtime pay. Most states also have overtime laws, many of which offer employees more protection and higher pay than the FLSA. One of the most common offenses for an employer is to classify an employee as a salary exempt employee or an independent contractor to deny overtime pay, as well as other benefits, and to avoid paying required taxes.
Some of the workers most likely to end up misclassified as exempt employees or independent contractors when they are, in fact, employees, are:
- Commissioned salespeople
- Waitstaff
- Bartenders
- Manufacturing employees
- Assembly line workers
- Commissioned mortgage brokers
- Drivers and couriers
You Are Not Being Paid for All the Hours Worked
The FLSA mandates that employers must pay employees overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week.
The overtime pay rate for more than 40 hours worked is time and a half, or 150% of the employee’s regular rate of pay. An employee’s regular rate of pay includes all hourly pay, and all non-discretionary pay such as bonuses, commissions, and shift differentials. We see many employers who illegally refuse to include this additional pay into the employees’ regular rates of pay for overtime calculation purposes.
You Are Treated as Exempt When You Are Not
Many states have overtime laws that go beyond the FLSA. Employers may believe that they do not have to comply with these laws, but this is simply not true.
Employees in certain professional, administrative, or managerial roles are exempt from overtime if they make at least $35,568 annually. The law defines these roles very narrowly and the employer must prove that the employee’s job duties qualify for the exemption to deny the employee overtime pay.
What Are Your Next Steps If You Need a Lawyer?
If you’re ready to take back what you’re owed, you’ll want a lawyer with experience in employment law. These legal professionals know about the many tactics that employers use to avoid paying overtime. More importantly, they know what remedies are best for holding them accountable.
You shouldn’t have to cope with having your employer deny you hard earned wages on your own. Contacting Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC can be a step in the right direction you need to consider taking.
A lawyer can help you hold your employer accountable for any unpaid wages owed. No matter what the employer gives as an excuse, you shouldn’t have to deal with unpaid wages including overtime.
Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC can help you recover your unpaid overtime pay, contact us today to find out how we can help you.