Any employee, who works for more than 40 hours a week, is generally entitled to receive overtime compensation. Unless there is a proper exemption under the Labor Code companies are legally obligated to pay their employees extra money for extra working hours.
Despite all the rules and regulations related to fair wages, many companies try to use some slick maneuvers to trick their employees into believing they do not deserve overtime. Take a look at some of the most common tricks employers use to avoid paying overtime.
Sometimes management tells workers that since they are working on salary basis, they cannot get paid for extra working hours. This is not true unless the worker falls under a proper Salary exemption, which the employer bears the burden of establishing. Unless a person earns a minimum of $455 a week, he or she generally does not fall under any exemptions. If you do not fall into any exempted category as per FLSA standards, you must be paid for every single minute spent at office.
Next common trick is classifying employees as independent contractors. Independent contractors cannot receive overtime as per the law. However, if your company is controlling your work time and schedule, if you can’t take other employment and a variety of other characteristics, your company may fail the economic realities test and you may be considered an employee. Employers try to keep individuals as independent contractors to avoid paying benefits, healthcare, ERISA, 401k, and overtime.
Many companies make their employees work during lunch break. Whereas in other instances, some companies make their staff work after they have logged out. This way, there will be no official records proving that they have worked overtime and they think it’ll be difficult to prove the time worked off the clock.
Sometimes there may be no clock at all. All of these are common tricks that companies use.
Since people with jobs classified as “exempt” from overtime are worked merciless hours and think they cannot demand overtime. It’s simply not the case. The companies try to transfer the tasks from non-exempt to exempt ones, to save themselves from paying extra money. This way, they can get double work done without any additional financial obligations for the company, but the employee bears the burden.
If the nature of your job demands working from home such as responding to text messages, answering emails and phones call, you may be entitled to receive overtime for the work done from home as well. If your company denies that, you should consult an unpaid overtime lawyer.
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