How Employers Manipulate Time To Deprive Employees Of Overtime Payment?

Unpaid overtime is not an issue that has suddenly arisen. It is an issue that has been troubling workers for a long time even with the strict federal and state laws. The major reason behind these issues is the lack of knowledge and awareness among employees. Majority of them are not aware of their rights that enable them to claim payment for their overtime.

However, employers also manipulate and use a variety of methods to deprive their workers of overtime payment. Here are the methods that they use to manipulate time or schedule for this purpose.

Making employees work before signing in or signing off – It is a common method that companies might use to rob workers of their overtime payments. Some employers tell staff that the post-shift or pre-shift hours are not compensable, which is not true. You are entitled to receive payment for each hour you worked for the company whether in shift or not.

You can demand wages for these hours and if not given, raise the issue for your rights.

Making employees work during lunch or breaks – Some employers make their staff work during lunch or breaks without paying them for that time, which is the violation of law. You should know that you are entitled to payment for your overtime even if it was done during the shift in break or lunch.

Awareness regarding your rights is your only way to get paid correctly for all the hours you spent working for your company. If they still refuse to pay you even after raising the issue to higher authorities, then you should contact professional unpaid overtime attorneys in your region who are familiar with the laws and rules.

These lawyers can help you claim your rightful wages along with compensation for damages (if applicable).

Checklist To Cover In An Unpaid Wages Claim

Are you planning to file an unpaid wages claim against your employer? There are many workers who are not getting properly paid for their hard work from their employers, which is why many are turning to law to claim justice. But for this purpose, you need to find an unpaid wages attorney.

However, there should be a certain checklist that you need to cover before opting for unpaid wages claim. Here is this check list.

Did you make a proper complaint at workplace?

This is the first thing that you need to cover in your check list. Filing a claim should be your last resort. You should first make your complaint known in your workplace. Ask your employer, senior or any higher authority in your company to let them know your wage related concerns. Ask them to help you out and solve the issue.

If the issue is not resolved even after making official complaint, then you should consult with your attorney.

Do you have an experienced attorney?

This is the next thing to check. To file a claim and obtain unpaid wages, you need the legal of an experienced and professional lawyer who specializes in this law field. Make sure to choose a specialist.

Do you have evidence or witnesses?

It is an essential aspect that you need to check in the checklist. You need evidence and witnesses to prove your claim in court. In the evidence, you might need your records related work hours in a regular workweek, login or logout, holidays, overtime and so on. However, many workers do not have these evidence or witness to provide facts in their favor.

But, fret not! An experienced attorney knows how to present facts and your claim to prove wage theft.

Mark above mentioned things checked in your list before going for the unpaid wages claim.

What are your Wage Rights regarding Notice and pay in lieu?

Getting paid fairly for your hard work and hours is your right, which is determined by law. Even if you are leaving the job, you still have some wage related rights that you should know about. Usually, employees serve a predetermined notice period before leaving their jobs with the consent of employers. For this period, workers are entitled to get a certain amount known as notice pay.

It is essential for employer to notify workers regarding their termination. A proper notification should be provided at least sixty days in advance. It is necessary that employees serve this period (60 days) before they are relieved from job. Laws in America protect workers from sudden termination and loss of wages. Rules make it necessary for companies to provide prior notice to their staff in case of termination or if company is in loss or any other situation.

However, it is necessary for you to know that according to law not all employees have the right to get a prior notification. Law covers several industries and companies regarding notification for termination. Furthermore, law does not recognize the pay in lieu aspect in any industry.

However, in some cases, both employees and employers agree to be relived from job before the notice period ends. What are the employees’ wage rights in these circumstances? Are they eligible for any pay?

A clause regarding this matter should be added in your contract with employer. If there is a clause in your contract regarding notice and pay in lieu, then you are entitled for the predetermined payments.

In these situations, boss has to make a payment to employee for that certain period, which will not be served with the consent of both parties. It is known as the pay in lieu.

Your right to get paid for the un-served notice period (in consent with employer) is solely based on your employment contract. If there are proper clauses, then you are entitled for fair payments. On the other hand, you may have to serve the predetermined period with proper wages. If employer fails to provide proper notice, it is considered a clear violation of law. In this situation, you must contact an unpaid wages attorney to get professional legal advice. According to law, you are entitled to get back payments and benefits for the violation of law.

Unable to get unpaid wages? Take the help of lawyer

In every industry, disputes between employees and employer are common. These disputes are caused by different reasons. Wages are the most common reason for disputes between employees and employer. Employees work hard, gives time and sweat to their jobs. But if they don’t get paid for all that time and hard work, they feel cheated.

There are times when employers take advantage of their positions and wealth to cheat employees out of their wages. Some of their common trickeries are:

• Not giving paycheck to employees

• Cut money on paycheck

• Not paying commissions

• Not paying the minimum wages

• Bounced paycheck

• Not paying overtime

• Extending work hours without pay

• Not paying overtime of workers and many more

Employers always seek those options, where they can get more work done but pay less. However, if you are cheated out of your earnings, then you can take the help of a professional attorney.

Unpaid Wages Attorney

An unpaid wages attorney can provide your guidance about your legal workplace and labor rights. Since, they are experts of employment law and have experience in handling similar cases, a lawyer can become the solution for your problem. Attorneys can get:

Wages – A lawyer can get all the unpaid salaries from your boss. Whether it is your paycheck, commissions, deducted amount from paycheck or minimum pay etc., you can get all the amount, which is rightfully yours.

Overtime – Employment and labor law experts can get your unpaid overtime. Overtime is usually calculated at one and a half times of hourly pay. If employer owes you any amount of overtime and refusing to pay, then only an attorney can get your salary for you.

Liquidated Damages – Not getting proper wages causes financial and emotional pain to employees. For all the pain and problems, attorney can get penalty amount from your boss. This penalty can be the double of amount your boss owns you.

In many cases won by employees, legal and lawyer fees is also paid by employers, since it is their fault that worker has to go to the court. If you are a victim of wage theft (illegally non-payment or less payment), then you must take the help of law.

However, before contacting a lawyer, you need to clear every doubt with your boss. Listen to their explanations or reasons before deciding anything. Sometimes, other aspects like bank errors also cause problems in salaries. After listening to them, if you are still convinced that you haven’t got your full salary, then consulting with lawyers is the final solution.

Are employees safe from wage theft in America’s restaurant industry?

Wage theft in United States’ restaurant business is not new. In the last few years, many cases have been reported where restaurant employees demanded their unpaid salaries and overtime from employers. Many popular food industry franchises and establishments have faced lawsuits from workers over unpaid salaries.

Recently, the restaurant King Buffet was confronted with allegations of wage theft. Thirty-eight workers claimed that the employer owes them approximately $600,000 in fair payments.

According to the plaintiffs, they received salaries less than minimum wages determined by the law. Workers also worked for extra hours for which they never received any payment. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) took legal action in this case.
In 2012, the DOL helped food industry employees in receiving over $600,000 in unpaid wages and overtime. These workers were from two different cities, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The government took action against another restaurant chain, El Tequila LLC. In this case, the owner is alleged to owe nearly one million dollars in unpaid salaries and overtime to the employees.

In another case, a Mexican restaurant faced allegations of wage theft last year. This business was ordered by the DOL to pay more than $200,000 to employees in back payments and damages. Their workers never received payments for the extra hours over 40 hours in a regular workweek.

Recently, another food venue was ordered to pay nearly $45,000 in unpaid payments. This order was made by the department when they found that workers were cheated out of their fair pay. This was the clear violation of minimum payments and overtime laws.

Another inquiry conducted by the federal department alleged that Xanh Restaurant never paid overtime to their employees. After investigation, the business owner was told to pay more than $90,000 in unpaid overtime and damages.

Whether its food business or any other industry, it is necessary that employers pay their staff according to the rules and regulations determined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

There are many ways waiters, servers, cook, bus boys, and other workers in the restaurant industry are shorted pay.  Sometimes, they are improperly paid a day rate and not paid any overtime.  Same with improperly paying them a salary.  Oftentimes, the employer takes a tip credit against the minimum wage and improperly pays less than minimum wage and sometimes nothing at all to allege the employee is tip dependant.

If you work in a restaurant and are the victim of wage theft, then you should immediately contact an unpaid wages attorney. An experienced lawyer can provide you legal counsel and can help you in receiving your fair payments from the employer as well as in getting appropriate compensations for the damages.

No one is above the law, not even the big brands!

According to the law, every employer is liable to pay fair for the work hours of their workers. If not paid properly, every employee has the right to file a lawsuit against employer. Not even big brands are safe from lawsuits when it comes to unpaid wages.

In 2014, the renowned firm LinkedIn Corp. was ordered to pay $6 Million to over 350 current and former workers. The lawsuit was filed on the basis of allegations that the firm did not measure the proper working hours. Payment was for the pending unpaid overtime wages and damages to the workers in many different locations.

Noted Allstate Insurance Company also faced similar claims. According to claims, the company exempted employees from the overtime rules determined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Workers were not paid for the extra hours they spent working at job (over 40 in a regular workweek). Insurance adjusters are frequently misclassified as exempt from overtime, and made to work endless hours without overtime compensation. Even when they are classified properly to be paid overtime, often times insurance adjusters, like other industries force their works to work off the clock to keep their overtime costs down, but to keep their profits up.

In another case, the famous food chain McDonald’s faced allegations of not paying fair wages to the employees. Their workers from three states filed the claim for fair payments.

Subway’s franchisees also faced allegations of not paying legitimately to their employees. A claim was filed in which this franchisee was ordered to pay about $52,000 to workers.

A well-known name in baseball, the Miami Marlins faced allegations of not paying fairly to their staff. The team was forced to pay $300,000 to its thirty-nine employees. The San Francisco Giants is another renowned baseball team, which also faced a lawsuit from their employees. Team was told to pay almost $545,000 to seventy four workers.

There are several other examples where big brands faced lawsuits from their current or former employees regarding unpaid wages and overtime. It includes names like Uncle Bear’s Grill & Bar, a franchise of Dunkin’ Donuts, Rosa’s Pizza and Pasta Restaurants and more.

Every employee has the right to get paid for the work, efforts, and hours they put in their job. If employers are not paying their staff members according to the rules of FLSA, the employee should contact an overtime attorney. Experienced attorneys have the knowledge of law and experience in protecting workers’ wage related rights and can help you in getting your unpaid payments.

Deliberate Employer Mistakes that directly indicate FLSA Violations

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has set clear standards for wages, overtime, commissions, bonuses, vacations, etc. However, still employers try to find their way around the law and the increasing numbers of wage and hour violations says it all. High numbers of these violations are mainly because of the mistakes made by the employers with a purpose of wage theft. It is crucial for the workers to understand their employee rights and ensure they do not become the next victim for such employers.

Following are the mistakes that many employers deliberately make that violate wage and hour regulations-

• Overlooking Compensable Hours– It is mandatory for employers to pay their employees based on the FLSA guidelines whether it is minimum wages, overtime, meals break, pre-shift or post-shift work. But unfortunately, many employers intentionally make illegal pay deductions without worrying about the law. Or the employer may confuse the employee into believing the time is not compensable. Time spent for the benefit of the employer is almost always compensable, and the employees should be paid for it. Such work may include setting up, shutting down, doing a security check for the employer, time spent waiting looking for a seat to work, time spent waiting for a computer to boot up, etc. For lunch, if an employer does not give freedom during lunch and provide an uninterrupted lunch time the employer generally needs to pay for that time.

• Ignoring Wage and Hour Audits- It is good practice to conduct wage and hour audits on a regular basis. Ignoring these audits may results in the misclassification of employees.

• Improper Employee Classification– Determining whether an employee is entitled to receive overtime can be a difficult task for a layperson, but it is still inexcusable not to consult with a lawyer who handles employee classification first. Many employers purposely misclassify their employees in order to prevent paying money that they are entitled to receive and don’t bother checking because they don’t want to know the truth, because they can’t handle the truth.

• Not Addressing Complaints– Most of the times, employers learn about wage and hour issues only when a lawsuit has been filed with the assistance of an unpaid overtime attorney. They deliberately ignore complaints and questions of their workers, which should have been resolved initially.

If you believe that your employer has compromised your employee rights, you need to raise your voice against it. You should seek help from a professional attorney to protect your rights. These lawyers usually offer a free consultation and do not charge any fee unless they win the case for you. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you should seek legal help to receive the money that you are entitled to.

What Questions Do Lawyers Ask Their Clients to Evaluate an Unpaid Wages Lawsuit?

Are you a victim of unpaid salaries or wage theft? Is your employer refusing to pay for the overtime you spent at job? If your answer is yes to any of above-mentioned questions, you should contact an unpaid wages lawyer. Experienced lawyers ask various questions to evaluate an unpaid wages lawsuit. You should be prepared for this process to clarify your situation and problems.

Following are few of the questions that unpaid wages attorneys ask their clients –

How many hours you work?

This is the first question that every attorney asks whenever you contact them for unpaid wages claim. They inquire about your normal and extra working hours. For example, usually there are 40 hours for work in a workweek. Every hour spent working over 40 is considered overtime.

How and what you are paid?

It should be the next question. Some employees are paid hourly while others are salaried. Labor and employment lawyers inquire about the payment process to evaluate their case. They ensure if their client has been actually cheated on payments by their employers. Sometimes an employee wants to gloss over the answer and says “I’m paid salary so I don’t receive overtime” and think that’s the end of the discussion. Sometimes, that’s just the beginning! Even if you’re on salary you may still be entitled to overtime.

They also inquire about the regular rate of your pay to ensure that you are getting minimum wages (if applicable according to your occupation). They make sure that overtime rate is one and a half of the regular rate.

How was your time tracked?

Attorneys also ask their clients how their time was tracked. Usually, time is recorded through computer, clock and in writing at workplaces. Lawyers generally ask if there is a record or not of their working hours. Don’t worry if you don’t have records, it’s the employer’s duty to keep them and their failure to maintain them can be used against them.

What are the most common reasons provided by employer for not paying wages or overtime?

Employers provide variety of reasons to their employees to justify their decision of not paying proper wages and overtime. Attorneys inquire about the reason employers provided them for not paying fair salary. It includes reasons like your occupation is exempt from overtime, lunch hours are not included in overtime, you are a salaried employee, or anything else for that matter.

Details of your work and your employer

Attorney will ask questions about the details of your workplace. They will also inquire about your work type, location of workplace, people involved in case (if any), company’s details, their working hours, payment methods and more. All these details help lawyers in properly evaluating the case.

Big Companies may have to Pay Big Buck for Unpaid Overtime to their Staff

Not paying overtime to employees is a clear violation of the law and the rights of employees. Every employer must follow all the labor and wages related rules by the US Department of Labor, as well as all applicable State and Local laws as well. All these rules usually fall under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and are interpreted through the Courts and by regulation through the CFR.

It is a common thought among people that big companies pay well to their employees and follow all the rules of labor law. However, there are a lot of lawsuits for unpaid payments against big corporates as well, which tell a different story. One of the reasons is that the FLSA only goes back three years at best, so if an employer can violate the law for 20 years and only pay for three, no matter how you slice it, the employer wins.

There are times when big companies had to pay unpaid overtime to their employees after legal intervention initiated by an unpaid overtime attorney.

In 2014, professional social-networking company LinkedIn Corp. paid almost $6 Million in unpaid overtime wages to 359 current and former workers. The company allegedly failed to measure the right working hours of these workers in a workweek. In three states of United States; California, Michigan, and New York, McDonald’s employees filed for their unpaid wages for their extra hours.

In Phoenix, the popular restaurant chain Uncle Bear’s Grill & Bar was ordered to pay $115,000 to 54 staff members for the extra worked hours. Uncle Bear’s allegedly failed to keep track of the hours worked for cooks. An employer has the obligation to keep track of the hours worked and failure to do so is a violation.

In 2013, a Subway franchisee that owns several stores in the southeast Michigan was ordered to pay about $52,000 in back wages and damages.

The Professional Baseball team, the San Francisco Giants was forced to pay $545,000 to its employees. 74 staff members received this payment for back payments and damages. Some industries believe it is a privilege to work for them and thus don’t pay their workers at all! Sometimes this occurs like cheerleading in sports, or stripping at a club.

A company that owns 55 Dunkin’ Donuts franchise also paid $197,787 in back wages as unpaid overtime to 64 workers.

A worker who is owed wages may be entitled to double damages plus attorney fees and the costs of the litigation. Many overtime lawyers take the case on a contingency basis and are only paid if they win the suit.

What Is the Overtime Rule for Exempt versus Nonexempt Employees?

Over the years, many employers have developed a misconception that paying employees on a salary basis allows them to save money and avoid paying overtime wages. Any employer who fails to classify salaried employees correctly may have to face legal consequences. It includes the responsibility to pay overtime wages to all salaried workers who worked over 40 hours in a week.

To understand your entitlement to overtime under the FLSA, you need to understand that employees are classified as ‘exempt’ or ‘nonexempt’ which means exempt from overtime or nonexempt and entitled to overtime.

Nonexempt employees remain entitled to overtime wages even if they have been hired on a salary basis. Employers that want to avoid paying overtime wages must correctly classify workers as exempt and if litigated have the burden at trial of justifying the exemption. (Only salaried employees with bona fide exempted job responsibilities can be considered exempt employee.)

Many employers do not maintain the records of salaried workers. Correct recordkeeping is the responsibility of an employer and not complying with it is a violation of FLSA.

If an employer fails to maintain the correct record of working hours, then his workers are entitled to the benefit of the doubt in establishing the hours worked. In such situations, employers face the burden of presenting the records of actually worked hours to rebut the presumption.

However, if you were misclassified as exempt without considering the duties that you actually carried out, you may be entitled to be compensated. With the help of an unpaid overtime attorney, you may help obtain justice.

Salary cases can be problematic and are some of the most difficult litigations in the overtime arena, thus the help of an overtime lawyer professional is highly recommended. Your attorney will consider several factors to calculate the overtime and whether the litigation will succeed. FLSA exemption litigation cases go to jury more often than not since the classification of the position is not only about damages backwards, but overtime payments moving forward and it may have an impact on the business’s bottom line.

At the end, we can say that if you are a nonexempt worker and get paid through a salary, you must seek professional help to know your overtime entitlements. An experienced lawyer can evaluate your situation considering all the valuable factors to ensure that your rights are not compromised at any stage.