Federal law requires employers to pay overtime wages
The Fair Labor Standards Act, and many state laws, set standards for overtime wages. Overtime is any work performed in excess of 40 hours during one week. By law, you are entitled to one and a half times your normal hourly rate for all hours worked over 40 hours in one work week.
For example, if your hourly wage is $10 per hour and you work a 45 hour week, you are entitled to $10 per hour for the first 40 hours and $15 per hour for the five hours of overtime, totaling $475.
How companies make big profits by cheating you -just a little bit-
Some companies believe that if they cheat each employee just a little bit, they can get away with it because no one will go to the trouble of fighting it. If your employer cheats you out of $25 here and there that you have earned for working overtime it may not seem like much. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands of employees, and you can see just how much large companies have to gain by cheating employees out of overtime pay. When you let it go because you don't think it's worth the hassle, you prove to them that the scheme is working and they continue to cheat their employees.
Tactic companies use to cheat you out of the money you earn
Some employers use the direct approach, bullying their employees. Most are sneaking, using complicated pay schedules to obscure where and how they are cheating you. Common tactics employers use to avoid paying overtime include:
Forcing or intimidating you into working off the clock
Requiring you to perform tasks before clocking in or after clocking out as preparation, clean up, or shut down activities
Refusing to pay for -unapproved- hours
Automatically deducting hours for lunch and breaks even if you worked during that time period
Refusing to pay for short breaks (less than 30 minutes) or combining the time taken in short breaks to total 30 minutes or more
Carrying overtime hours over into the next week's hours
Falsifying time sheets
Misclassifying you as exempt from overtime
Issuing a check paying your overtime hours at your regular wage and hoping you either won't notice or won't say anything
Getting help
If your employer is cheating you out of the money that you have earned, you need the help of an experienced employment attorney, especially if you work for a large corporation. These types of cases are complex and can be a difficult battle, but they can be won, as was recently the case with Wal-Mart cheating its employees.
Employers who short you on overtime pay are breaking the law and stealing from you and your family. If your employer is cheating you out of wages you have earned, talk to an experienced employment attorney today.
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