Unpaid Overtime Attorneys
It’s unfortunately all too common for employers to try to stiff their employees in the name of the bottom line. All nonexempt employees must be rightfully and legally compensated for all their work hours, including overtime. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protects your right to overtime pay. If your employer has failed to compensate you for the overtime you worked under FLSA regulations, don’t wait. Reach out to our Florida and Georgia unpaid overtime lawyers. You may be eligible to build a case and fight to recover what is due to you.
Why Should You Consult an Unpaid Overtime Lawyer?
According to FLSA, employers have two years after the date the wage violation occurred to compensate any employees for any unpaid overtime they have incurred. But if they have declined or willfully pushed off compensation, it would be considered against the law.
If you or anyone you know has experienced unfair payment involving overtime hours by an employer, contact Farah & Farah for a free consultation.
What To Expect With Farah & Farah Unpaid Overtime Attorneys
Farah & Farah’s unpaid overtime lawyers are experienced with labor law’s intricacies and how it is designed to protect employees such as yourself. Whether we’re acting as mediators or representing you in a court of law, our legal team has the skill and knowledge to be your advocate. And depending on your case, our unpaid overtime lawyers will fight to recover any financial loss, emotional harm, and liquidated damages.
What Is Considered Overtime?
Overtime refers to any extra hours worked over a standard 40-hour workweek. If an employee works weekends, holidays, or regular rest days, it would only be considered overtime if they worked more than 40 hours.
What Is the FLSA?
Enacted in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a cornerstone of labor law in the U.S. and ensures fair treatment of workers in terms of pay and working conditions. It is a federal law in the United States that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay eligibility, recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments.
Who Qualifies for Overtime Pay?
While many employees qualify for overtime pay, some are exempt and wouldn’t be owed extra pay even if they worked more than 40 hours in a week.
Who Is Exempt From Overtime Under The FLSA?
The FLSA, which sets minimum wage, overtime pay, and more, considers “white collar” employees exempt from receiving and participating in overtime. Titles alone are insufficient to assess an employee’s exempt or nonexempt status. To be regarded as an exempt employee, there is a three-step test: title, salary, and duties.
Title
The first qualification that needs to be considered an exempt position is the classification of your role in the company. Including:
- Professional employees, such as those considered learned, creatives, and teachers
- Computer employees
- Executives
- Administrative employees
- Volunteers
- Outside sales employees
Job Duties & Responsibilities
The second area that will be looked at is your job duties and responsibilities, such as:
- Primary duty takes place outside of the office building or place of business
- Making sales with customers at the customer’s place of business, door-to-door marketing and sales (at the customer’s home)
- Have varying hours
Salary Requirements
The third portion that needs to be fulfilled for you to be considered an exempt employee is your salary. All exempt employees’ salaries must earn:
- $684 per week with a biweekly compensation of $1,368 on a salary
- No less than $1,482 on a semimonthly basis on a salary
- No less than $2,964 per month on a salary basis
Who Qualifies as a Nonexempt Employee?
Nonexempt employees are those who are covered under the FLSA and are eligible to receive overtime wages for hours they worked after a 40-hour workweek. Examples of nonexempt employees include but are not limited to:
- Police officers
- Firefighters
- Paramedics
- First responders
- Blue-collar workers whose work involves repeating protocols and procedures with their hands, physical skills, and energy
How Do I Calculate My Overtime Pay?
The standard way to calculate any overtime is by multiplying time-and-a-half (1.5 of your hourly rate) by the number of extra hours you worked. If you work 45 hours in one week and are paid $16/hr, the calculations would look like this: 5 hours x ($16 + $8) equals $120 overtime pay.
Employers may utilize the fluctuating workweek method with their employees if their weekly schedules and hours vary. This method allows the nonexempt employee to receive a weekly salary no matter how many hours they worked as well as any overtime hours once they work over 40 hours in one week.
The Department of Labor (DOL) explains the calculations:
“Under the fluctuating workweek method, overtime pay is based on the average hourly rate produced by dividing the employee’s fixed salary and any non-excludable additional pay (e.g., commissions, bonuses, or hazard pay) by the number of hours actually worked in a specific workweek. The average hourly rate will change from week to week depending on how many hours the employee actually worked. The employee then receives at least an additional 0.5 times (or additional “half time”) that rate for each hour worked beyond 40 in the workweek.”
How Do Employers Trick Employees To Avoid Compensating Overtime?
With all of the rules and regulations the FLSA mandates that employers must comply with, some employers try to circumvent them by misclassifying positions or requiring employees to sign a waiver so that they are exempt from having to compensate those who work overtime.
Misclassifying Position Schemes
Be aware that employers who list a position as an independent contractor rather than an employee are not required to pay overtime. Employers may also attempt to place an employee on a salary when their position should be hourly to forego having to pay them when they work extra hours.
Penalties for Misclassifying Employees
After an FLSA investigation, if the employer is found to have willfully or repeatedly violated the compensation for overtime requirement, they can be charged a civil money penalty of up to $1,000 per violation. They may also face criminal prosecution and a fine of up to $10,000. The employer may be subject to imprisonment for a second violation.
Florida’s Employer Misclassification Penalty
When an employee in Florida finds that their employer violated their overtime wage through misclassification, they have the right to recover fair compensation for any overtime wages retained during the time they were misclassified as an exempt employee.
Georgia’s Employer Misclassification Penalty
In Georgia, if an employer is found to have knowingly misclassified an employee to avoid overtime compensation, they can face a maximum of $10,000 in penalties.
Asking Employees To Sign Waivers
Another trick that employers may try to use is having an employee sign a waiver. If they had you sign a waiver, that is unlawful. Employers are still mandated to pay an employee covered under the FLSA, regardless of a waiver.
Which Employees Does the FLSA Not Cover?
Outside of the listed exempted employees above, other types of employees are not covered under the FLSA, including:
- Casual babysitters
- Freelancers
- Independent contractors
- Farmers
- Fishing
- Sailors on American vessels
- Taxicab drivers
- Railroad employees
- Children employed by their parents
- Senior care companions
- Recreational employees in national parks, forests, and the Wildlife Refuge System
Can I Get Fired If I Refuse To Work Overtime?
Farah & Farah’s legal team recommends always reviewing your employment parameters. Your company’s handbook and contract should cover what is expected when you begin your position. If you are unsure of the terms under which your employer can terminate you, please speak with your company’s HR representative.
Florida Employees
Following FLSA, Florida does not have restrictions on employers to issue mandatory overtime hours. If you are a nonexempt employee covered under FLSA, employers are required to pay employees time-and-a-half for any extra hours they work in one workweek.
For employees who signed “at-will” contracts when starting work, your employer has the right to terminate you if you refuse to work overtime, but not without warning. The exception would be if you have rights through a union or signed another type of contract that limits employers from enforcing mandatory overtime.
Georgia Employees
Employees covered under the FLSA are required to work overtime as long as the employer compensates the employee with time-and-a-half pay for the extra hours. If you refuse to work overtime and are covered under FLSA, the employer can terminate you for such reasons.
Overtime is not calculated on an 8-hour daily basis. Employees are only compensated overtime if their hours exceed 40 hours in a workweek.
What Is a Compensatory Time-Off Policy?
Under the FLSA regulations, public agency employees may receive compensatory time off for overtime work. Instead of being paid for their extra hours, employees can take compensatory time off in the future. Compensatory time, also called ‘comp time,’ is received at the rate of 1.5 hours per extra hour they worked past their 40-hour workweek.
Employees employed by employers who follow the federal laws of comp time can accrue up to 480 hours. If the employee exceeds the threshold, the employee is to be paid for the overtime hours. FLSA comp time also states that if the employee chooses not to take time off but rather is compensated, the employer must treat the compensatory time off as overtime compensation.
What Is Considered Overtime During a Regular Workweek?
A regular workweek does not need to begin on Monday. Your workweek starts and ends upon the agreed schedule between the employee and the employer. A workweek is a period–from start to finish–in which you work and that totals 168 hours. Out of those 168, you work 40 of those hours. Any hours after those 40 hours are considered overtime.
How Can Collective Bargaining Agreements Affect Overtime?
Collective bargaining agreements (CBA) are contracts established between the employer and union representative after they undergo negotiations and settle on specific agreements. Such agreements can not waive or reduce the FLSA’s minimum standards. However, the discussion between the two parties can result in an increase in wages, reduced working days within the workweek, or an increase in the overtime rate compared to what the FLSA requires.
Overtime for Minimum Wage & Part-time Employees
All employees covered under FLSA are eligible for overtime compensation if they work over 40 hours per workweek. These are all hourly workers, including part-time and minimum-wage employees.
What Is The Minimum Wage in Florida?
Florida’s minimum wage for non-tipping employees is $12 per hour. It is planned to increase to $13 per hour by the fall of 2024. For employees who receive tips during their working hours, the minimum wage is $7.98 per hour, which will increase to $8.98 by the fall. Florida’s minimum wage will continue to increase every September until it reaches $15 in 2026.
What Is The Minimum Wage in Georgia?
Georgia’s current minimum wage is $5.15. However, because it is lower than the FLSA’s $7.25 minimum, most employers must comply with the FLSA’s higher rate. Employees not covered under FLSA would receive a minimum wage of $5.15.
The Georgia Department of Labor states that the minimum wage for employees who receive tips during their work hours is $2.13, but that is only applicable when the total of $2.13 and their tips equal the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The employer is mandated to cover the difference if the employee does not make the federal amount during their work hours.
Overtime Wage Violations
If you have experienced non-payment of overtime hours that you have accrued and you are considered a nonexempt employee, you can file a claim with the FLSA, Florida, or Georgia labor law against your employer. You may contact an unpaid overtime lawyer and file a civil case to be compensated for any damages you have encountered by the violation and recover your financial loss.
How Much Time Do I Have To File a Claim for Unpaid Overtime?
FLSA has a statute of limitations of two years for employees who have experienced wage, hour, or medical leave violations to file a claim. A three-year statute of limitations applies for violations done willfully or by negligence.
Florida's Statute of Limitations
Under Florida’s law, any employee whose wage has been violated has four years to file a claim that their employer failed to compensate, or five years if the employer willfully declined to pay the employee fair overtime wages.
Georgia's Statute of Limitations
In Georgia, the state follows the FLSA’s regulations that allow you two years to file a claim for unpaid overtime wages or three years if your employer knowingly withheld overtime compensation. The filing timing starts from the date your employer violated FLSA or the date you learned you experienced wage violation from your employer.
Retaliation in the Workplace
Any employer who retaliates against you– or anyone you know who has filed a wage violation or breach of contract claim– has acted unlawfully. You may be eligible to recover damages for the negative consequences you faced. Retaliation can occur in various ways: demotion, denial of benefits and promotions, less work, unfavored work shifts, or pay cuts.
You have the right to work in a safe environment. Any retaliation done to an individual or group is illegal and should not be tolerated.
What To Do If You Are Aware of Unpaid Overtime Violations
The Fair Labor Standards Act law is in place to ensure the workplace is a safe environment and everyone’s position receives fair compensation. Unfortunately, the corporate world is fraught with employers violating labor laws and wage regulations for their bottom line. Suppose you’re someone whose right to fair compensation has been violated by an employer who knowingly declined your overtime wage or has misclassified your position as exempt to avoid paying overtime. In that case, we encourage you to file a claim with the federal and state DOL for violations of FLSA and state laws.
Our team at Farah & Farah has the knowledge and experience to take your case and fight for justice against the employer and company that has caused harm and financial damage. Contact us today for a free consultation. You won’t have to pay anything unless your case is successful.
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