Stephan Zouras LLP | Attorneys at Law

Employers often try to take advantage of their employees by not properly compensating them for overtime hours in violation of federal law. The Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") requires your employer to pay you 1 1/2 times your regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 each week unless you are "exempt" from the Act because you are a professional, an executive, an administrator or satisfy one of the other tests for exemption from overtime.

The FLSA also requires your employer to keep accurate records of all the time you actually work each week. The time you are "scheduled" to work or an estimate based on completing certain tasks may not be an accurate indication of the actual time you spent working.

If your employer violates the FLSA by failing to keep accurate records or properly paying you 1 1/2 times your regular rate of pay for all overtime hours, you are eligible to receive damages including unpaid overtime and double (or "liquidated") damages plus attorney's fees and costs.

Some typical examples of how employers violate the FLSA are:

Employers failing to accurately record employee hours worked and requiring employees to work "off the clock" by covering for other employees, making or receiving job related calls from home; working through lunch and other break periods and performing work before and after their scheduled shifts;
Employers misclassifying employees as exempt by inappropriately giving them an executive-sounding title, paying them a salary and requiring them to work more than 40 hours per week "for free";
Employers "shaving time" off employee time cards and otherwise failing to accurately record actual hours worked to avoid paying time and a half for overtime; and,
Employers failing to pay a guaranteed salary of at least $455 per week and instead often paying 100% commission for all hours worked without paying overtime compensation.

Employers in certain industries are infamous for violating the FLSA. Some of the common jobs with a history of overtime abuse include:

Hourly retail employees including assistant managers, shift supervisors, and clerks who are required to work unpaid time off-the-clock;
Loan officers, stock brokers, and other employees who are not paid a guaranteed salary but rather are paid 100% commission;
Technicians, installers and other field service employees; and,
Individuals misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees.

Regardless of your job title, if you ever worked more than 40 hours in a week without overtime compensation and would like more information on your rights, please contact us for a free consultation.