Your employer should pay you for the time you spend working. It sounds like a simple concept, and federal laws protect workers in this area. However, there are many instances where employers fail to compensate employees for overtime worked. This situation can happen for many reasons, but it should be rectified, and payment retroactively made for the work that was done.
One of the most common reasons a worker doesn’t get paid for overtime is because they are classified incorrectly as salaried instead of hourly. With salaried employees, they may work more than 40 hours and not get paid for those additional hours. Some employees are classified as salaried by employers when they should be hourly according to the legal requirements. An employer may not know this rule, or they may attempt to reduce costs through misclassification.
In other situations, an employer may create a workload that requires more than 40 hours of effort and expect the employee to get the job done without additional compensation. Occasionally working a little extra may not seem like a big deal, but consistently putting in more hours is taking advantage of the employee. An employer may try to say it shouldn’t take the worker that long or that they weren’t working the whole time. They may deduct their pay or force them to work off the clock.
The Fair Labor Standards Act is the federal law that protects workers by providing a minimum wage, rules for overtime pay and standards for salary or hourly employees. Any worker who believes they haven’t been paid for work that was done can file a complaint with the company. In some instances, this may take care of the problem if the employer was unaware of what was happening.
Workers who don’t want to go this route or haven’t received a response can file a claim with the US Department of Labor. Another more aggressive option is to file a lawsuit against the employer for violations of the FLSA. If the wage loss is a violation of state laws rather than the FLSA, the worker can file a lawsuit in state court.
This type of claim can be complicated and requires the legal counsel of an experienced wage loss attorney. The employer will have a team of lawyers to protect them, and the worker needs someone who will fight for their rights. An attorney knows the state laws as well as the FLSA, and they can represent your interests in court.
The worker will need to show evidence for how they failed to receive compensation for the work they did. An attorney can help them gather this documentation to show proof in court.
If you have been underpaid or failed to receive wages for your work, you can contact Pulaski Law Firm for a free consultation. We have years of experience in wage law and will help you get the compensation you deserve for work performed for your employer.
