Both employer and employee have their respective rights and duties. This is to ensure a balanced relationship. To ensure smooth payment to an employee or a worker from an employer, the Fair Labour Standard Act (FLSA) requires every employer to pay for all hours of work delivered to him.
Who deserves overtime?
If an employee has worked more than forty hours a week, he or she is entitled to receive 1.5 times his regular pay for the additional hours, besides receiving his normal pay. This is called overtime pay. A few employees are not entitled to overtime. These employees are salaried and classified as “exempt”. These types of workers only receive their regular salary without any overtime — whether or not they have worked a surplus of 40 hours per week.
When should you consult a lawyer?
Sadly, some employers will try to deprive their employees of overtime by using certain tactics. To combat this, employees have the right to file a lawsuit for unpaid overtime in order to recover any and all unpaid overtime. If found guilty, the employer will have to pay not only the unpaid overtime but also liquidated damages and all attorney’s fees.
Reasons and benefits behind hiring an expert lawyer to recover your unpaid overtime
Below are the major benefits you can get by hiring such an attorney to recover your unpaid overtime.
1. You will be able to prove if your employer violated the law
A professional lawyer is able to determine if your employer forced you to work extra time and tried to categorize as “exempt”. He knows all the tactics employers who are reluctant to pay overtime use.
2. You gain the benefit of all the accrued knowledge and experience of your lawyer
A lawyer gains legal knowledge after reading and implementing knowledge in his or her cases over the years. By hiring an experienced lawyer, you get the opportunity to have this experience used on your behalf, making recovery of unpaid overtime more likely.
3. Your attorney will guide you on how to best proceed.
An efficient lawyer always looks into the case very meticulously and will list out all the possible options regarding every aspect of the matter. A good lawyer will be able to determine if your employer has used any of the following tactics:
- Not keeping an accurate record of your time cards.
- Classifying you as an independent contractor to avoid paying overtime.
- Docking your hours.
- Classifying you as exempt to avoid paying overtime.
- Not pay you for time spent in meetings and on job training workshops.
- Forcing you to work off the clock.
4. Your attorney will guide you about the timings of your case.
One of the crucial factors about filing your case is doing so in a timely manner. Your attorney will tell you as to what the most suitable time is for filing the case or your claim and also how long this case may take to finish. You are required to file your claim within two years of the violation of laws. If the violation is wilful, you may have up to three years to do so.
The more you follow the advice of a professional attorney, the more you are likely to recover your unpaid overtime.
