Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), all employers are required to pay their employees overtime at a rate of one-and-a-half times the employees’ regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, unless the employee falls under a specific exemption.
Many employers fail to properly pay their employees for the overtime hours they work in a number of ways. Some of these violations include:
- Paying an employee a salary and classifying the employee as exempt from receiving overtime, but the classification is improper and the employee should have received overtime pay for overtime hours worked;
- Pressuring employees to underreport their hours worked so that their time records are not accurate;
- Adjusting employees’ time records to short their hours worked;
- Interrupting employees during their uncompensated meal breaks;
- Improperly rounding employees’ time cards.
Employees who are robbed of the overtime pay that they are entitled to can recover not only their unpaid overtime pay, but also potentially liquidated damages which is equal to the amount of unpaid overtime wages owed – meaning, in total, double the amount of unpaid overtime wages. An employer can only avoid paying liquidated damages if it can prove that its failure to pay overtime wages was made in “good faith,” which is very difficult to prove. In addition to these remedies, certain state laws have added protections that can increase the potential recovery for a successful employee.
If you believe that you were wrongfully denied overtime pay, do not hesitate to contact us at info@pkglegal.com or at (561) 726-8444 for a free evaluation of your claim.