In this skidding economy, jobs are difficult to find and workers do everything they can to hold on their jobs. Unfortunately, they are also making compromises with their employee rights and employers are taking advantage of the situation. Yes, the increasing numbers of wage and hour issues give us the clear idea of the prevailing and reoccurring employee rights violations of some employers.
It does not matter whether it is happening due to lack of awareness among workers or any other reasons, it needs to stop! Workers are entitled to fair pay for fair work.
If you are a worker and don’t want to become a victim, make sure your employer is complying with the following-
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Record of the employees’ hours of work– It is the responsibility of the employer to accurately record the actual work hours of all the employees. It does not matter whether you use time sheets, time clocks, or computerized time clocks, it is mandatory for the employer to ensure that the information is secured and can be readily retrieved whenever needed.
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Maintaining Time Sheet Information– Your employer also needs to maintain the record of every work day and week, that should include time of work started, time for meal break, duration of meal break, time of work ended, and overtime earned on each day and week. It is crucial to document all the hours worked, and not doing all that could be an indication of wage theft.
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Paying minimum wages, overtime – There are minimum wages that your employer must pay to meet the requirements by law. You are also entitled to receive appropriate overtime for hours worked over 40 in a working week. If the employer is claiming any credits, like tip credits or housing credits, they must be documented thoroughly and explained to the employee.
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Classifying Employees Correctly– Many employers intentionally misclassify their workers to avoid overtime. There are many financial penalties for misclassifying the workers as exempt when they are not. Therefore, it is necessary for you to ensure that your employer has correctly classified you based on your salary and job responsibilities. Some of the common schemes are to place an employee on salary even though they are entitled to overtime or saying the employee is an independent contractor even though you are an employee.
If you believe your employer is not complying with these or any other wage and hour obligations, you should seek help from a professional unpaid overtime lawyer to have your situation evaluated.
Wage Warriors 