Overtime and Wage and Hour Claims

The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is a federal law that in general requires employers: (1) to pay covered employees at least the minimum wage for their hours worked; and (2) to pay certain nonexempt employees 1.5 times their regularly hourly rate for time worked in excess of a 40 hour work week.

The FLSA also regulates how nonexempt wage rates are to be calculated, defined and enforced.  Many businesses attempt to avoid paying their workers the wages they are due under the law in order to increase company profits at the expense of the hard work of their employees.  Some examples of ways employers have been found to be in violation of the FLSA include:

• informing workers that they are not entitled to overtime
• designating workers as salaried even though they are still entitled to overtime pay
• designating periods as breaks even though significant work is still required to be performed
• not paying tipped employees the appropriate minimum wage
• attempting to classify job description as exempt from overtime when actual job duties would qualify as nonexempt
• designating integral and indispensible work time as pre-shift or post-shift

As with many other laws, the FLSA prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee by discharging or otherwise discriminating against the employee for filing a complaint or instituting proceedings under the FLSA.

Moreover, employers are not permitted to unlawfully discriminate against employees in the payment of their wages on the basis of race, gender, age, disability, religion, national origin, or any other statutorily protected class.

Most state jurisdictions also have separate statutes and common law claims for unpaid wages.  Employers have a contractual obligation to pay workers for services performed and may be held liable for failing or refusing to honor those obligations.

If you believe you are not being, or have not been, paid wages that are fair or are owed to you by your employer, contact the law firm of Henrichsen Law Group, P.L.L.C. without delay.