Employment Litigation & Wrongful Termination Lawyers

Most people in the United States believe that for a full day’s work, one should receive a full day’s pay. Because most people are employed in order to earn the money necessary to take care of their family’s needs, they deserve the wages they are paid to be fair. This is why both the state and federal governments have drawn up laws that have been enacted to protect the right of the individual employee to receive a fair wage. However, these regulations are not always followed properly by employers.

If you have not been paid a fair wage, whether the wage paid was less than the standard minimum wage or if you were not paid correctly for overtime hours worked, you may need to consult with our employment litigation lawyers.

Fair Labor Standards Act and State Wage-Hour Laws
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay minimum wage and overtime. Employees are due overtime pay for working more than 40 hours per week in most situations.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that all nonexempt employees be paid at least the minimum wage for all hours worked. The FLSA also provides that nonexempt employees who work more than 40 hours in the workweek must receive at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for the overtime hours (hours worked over 40 in a workweek). A workweek, which can begin on any day of the week, is 7 consecutive 24-hour periods or 168 consecutive hours.

We handle claims for individuals, small groups and class actions. Lead (named) plaintiffs in class actions are often entitled to additional compensation, which, in some cases, can be substantial.

Hourly Employees
Employers frequently violate the FLSA and state wage/hour laws. Employees that are covered under FLSA and relevant state laws are entitled to compensation for all time worked and one and a half times their ordinary rate for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. For example, an employee who is normally paid $10 per hour is entitled to $15 per hour for all time worked in excess of 40 hours in a week. The employer is responsible to properly compensate employees for all time worked by the employee, including overtime, even if the employer did not know that the employee was working overtime.

Employers often try to avoid paying overtime in the following ways:

  • Having employees work “off the clock”;
  • denying employees overtime pay when the overtime is not approved by management;
  • paying employees their regular rate for overtime work;
  • carrying over one week’s overtime hours into another week;
  • using a timekeeping method that automatically “clocks out” employees either for lunch periods or at the end of a time period, regardless of whether the employees continue working for the clocked-out time;
  • requiring employees to arrive early to perform necessary preparations for work, including putting on or removing protective gear; and
  • altering employees’ time sheets.

Salaried employees misclassified as exempt
An employee is not exempt from overtime payment simply because she is paid the same salary every week, as opposed to by the hour. The most common FLSA exemptions for salaried employees apply primarily to professionals, such as doctors or lawyers, or high-level employees who have a considerable amount of discretion in conducting their affairs. Employees who are not exempt under FLSA or relevant state laws are entitled to be paid for all time worked in excess of 40 hours per week, regardless of their salaried status. Employers frequently violate FLSA by failing to pay overtime to salaried employees that the employer misclassifies as exempt. If your employer misclassified you as exempt, our attorneys can help you.

Here at the Law Office of Pulaski Kherkher, PLLC we have the experience needed to help you with claims against employers who have violated these regulations and laws. Both minimum wage and overtime are regulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In most cases, employees must be paid the minimum wage or more for each hour that is worked, and any hours worked by an employee over the standard 40 in a week must be compensated at a rate of 1 1/2 times the employee’s regular hourly rate. Our employment litigation lawyers can help you get the compensation you deserve if your employer doesn’t pay overtime wages properly.

In addition, sometimes employees are fired without cause or without proper procedures being followed. If this has happened to you, you may be in need of wrongful termination lawyers to help you receive the compensation you deserve.

For any kind of employment litigation, the employment litigation lawyers and wrongful termination lawyers at Pulaski & Law Firm have the experience you require to get what you deserve. Call us today to set up your free initial consultation so that we can help you determine whether or not you have a valid employment litigation claim.