If you aren’t being paid overtime, a lawsuit may be an option.
It is a far-too-familiar feeling for many employees: you get your paycheck, expecting to see quite a large number with all of the hours that you have been working. But when you open it, you see a disappointing number. What happened to all of that overtime pay that you were promised?
If you believe that your employer is not paying you overtime — or not paying you proper overtime — then you have certain rights. This may include filing a claim with the state or federal government, or filing a lawsuit. An experienced employment law attorney can advise you about your options based on the specific facts of your case.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), non-exempt hourly employees are entitled to receive overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of forty each week. The rate for the overtime compensation is one and a half times the regular rate of pay. If an employee’s regular rate of pay is $15.00 per hour, then that same employee’s overtime rate of pay is $22.50 per hour. Many states, including California, have their own overtime compensation laws. In other states, the right to overtime pay is governed by FLSA.
However, not all employers are covered by the FLSA. To be covered under this law, your employer must either have $500,000 or more in annual sales or operate in interstate commerce. If your employer is a small business, it could still be covered under FLSA if it operates in interstate commerce in any way. This could include making telephone calls to or from another state, selling goods to or buying goods from another state or even having a website.
There are many ways that employers avoid paying their employees overtime or proper overtime. They might simply fail to count all of an employee’s hours and simply not pay them for the hours that they have worked. They might shift overtime hours into a new week or pay period so that the employee is paid at a regular rate of pay instead of at an overtime rate. Or they might intentionally miscalculate the employee’s regular rate of pay so that the overtime rate is lower than it should be. For example, if you earned a bonus for your productivity or efficiency, then that should be included as part of your regular rate of pay. If your employer simply pays you overtime without calculating your rate of pay with your bonus added in, then your employer is not paying you the full overtime amount.
Depending on the facts of your case and your state of residence, you could file a claim with the state or federal Department of Labor, or file a lawsuit to recover your overtime pay. A skilled employment law attorney can help you make a decision about how to best proceed with your case.
At PLBH, our experienced employment law attorneys know how to help employees who have not been properly paid for their work, including those who haven’t been paid (or paid properly) for their overtime work. Contact us at (800) 435-7542 or info@plblaw.com to schedule a free initial consultation today.