Overtime and Wage & Hour Cases
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is one of the oldest federal employment laws. Passed in 1937, the FLSA provides for minimum wage and overtime standards applicable to almost all employers in the United States. There are two central provisions of the FLSA that affect nearly every employee in the U.S.: (1) the minimum wage requirement and (2) the overtime provision.
Austin Overtime and Wage & Hour Attorney
The FLSA requires employers to pay all non-exempt employees at a rate of one and one half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any workweek. Many employers, however, continue to disregard this requirement, and, as a result, unpaid overtime is one of the most frequent sources of employee complaints. Overtime class action and collective action cases are one of the fastest growing areas of employment litigation in our federal court system.
You are not exempt just because your employer labels you as exempt. The FLSA allows employers to classify some types of employees as exempt from overtime, but those exemptions are determined by the actual work performed by the employee, not the label placed on the employee by the employer.
There are three principal exemptions under the FLSA:
- Executive
- Administrative
- Professional
Other exempt categories include outside sales employees, some commissioned sales employees, and some computer professionals. The laws and regulations defining these categories can be complex and difficult to understand. However, when challenged, the employer bears the burden of establishing that your work falls under one of these exemptions. The employment attorneys at Terry, Simon & Kelly can evaluate your job duties and assist you in determining whether your employer has violated your rights to overtime pay.
Retaliation is prohibited. The FLSA protects employees who have the courage to challenge their employer’s pay practices by making it unlawful to fire or in any other manner discriminate against an employee for filing a complaint or for participating in a legal proceeding under the Act. That means that your employer may not retaliate against you for filing suit to obtain your unpaid overtime. It also means that your employer may not retaliate against you for making a complaint within the company, such as to human resources, that you have been unlawfully denied overtime pay or minimum wage. If you believe you have been retaliated against for objecting to an unlawful compensation practice, please contact us today to discuss your claims.
Rights and Remedies Under the FLSA
Under the FLSA, you are entitled to recover unpaid overtime during the statutory period of the violation, plus an additional amount as liquidated damages. Your employer may also be required to pay your attorneys’ fees and court costs. If you believe that you have been denied overtime other other covered form of compensation, you are not required to file a claim with the E.E.O.C. as you would in a retaliation or discrimination case. Instead, you may hire a private attorney and file suit as soon as you discover the violation. If others within your company have also been denied overtime, we may also be help them through the filing of a collective action. Collective actions are similar to class actions, and will help you bring the maximum pressure to bear on your employer ensure that all employees are paid according to the law.
Contact Our Overtime and Wage & Hour Lawyer
The attorneys at Terry, Simon & Kelly have handled numerous individual overtime cases and collective actions on behalf of their clients. If you believe that you have been unlawfully denied overtime or retaliated against for objecting to an unlawful compensation practice, please contact us for a free consultation.