We have extensive experience assisting individuals and groups of employees recover unpaid wages and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). If you work, your employer is required to pay you the minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime if you work more than 40 hours a week and you are not an exempt employee. We have successfully helped employees recover overtime pay and liquidated damages (double what the employer should have paid) in FLSA lawsuits. FLSA rights are available to any worker who is not exempt from the laws whether you are salaried or not. FLSA protects workers against employers who improperly classify them as supervisors or management. The FLSA can also protect independent contractors if it can be shown that the worker is not truly independent. The list of workers who are protected is far too extensive to list. But if your employer asks you to work on weekends, if he asks you to work at home or after hours; if he insists that you carry a cell phone or pda with you at all times so you can respond to his business concerns and he does not keep records of your time, you may be entitled to additional compensation.
Also, if you complain about not being paid properly and if your employer retaliates against you by terminating you, changing your job duties, lowering your evaluation scores, transferring you, reducing your work load, increasing your work load or any similar types of acts that could be considered adverse, your employer could be liable to you for damages.
Here are reference websites on overtime and labor.
- Department of Labor Web Site regarding work hours and overtime.
- Fact Sheet # 77A: Prohibiting Retaliation Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)