Unpaid Overtime
Employers often engage in illegal pay practices that financially harm employees in favor of making the owners and business money. Workers are often misclassified as “managers”, “assistant managers”, or “independent contractors” so the company can avoid their obligation to pay workers overtime. Others simply forget or refuse to properly compensate their employees for the overtime hours they’ve worked by adjusting hours or requiring off-the-clock work. The Long Island and New York City Unpaid Overtime Attorneys at Leeds Brown Law, P.C., have successfully represented thousands of victims of wage and hour violations in hundreds of class and collective actions. If you are technically non-exempt from overtime pay, but your employer has not compensated you at a rate of 1 ½ your regular pay for the additional time you’ve worked over 40 hours in a given workweek, it may be time to take legal action. You may be entitled to monetary damages, penalties potentially doubling the amount of money you are owed, plus interest and attorney’s fees.
Workers in New York are protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as well as the New York State Labor Law and the governing regulations. Employees across the country are protected by the FLSA regardless of whether the work was performed in California, Florida, North Carolina, or Iowa. The foundational provision of the FLSA and the New York Labor law aim to make sure employees receive overtime pay as well as the minimum amount employers must pay their non-exempt employees for overtime hours worked.
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Employers often engage in a plethora of unlawful pay practices to avoid their obligation to pay workers overtime. Here are just a few examples:
Misclassified as A Manager?
Your job duties dictate whether you are exempt or non-exempt from overtime pay – not your job title. You may hold the job title as “Manager” or “Assistant Manager”, but are all your job duties managerial in nature? Managers are much more autonomous than most of their workers with respect to job duties. They oversee the overall operations of the company. Employees, on the other hand, perform day-to-day, administrative duties which are generally dictated by their supervisor(s). If you are a “manager” or “assistant manager” but you find yourself performing administrative work, you may be entitled to overtime pay.
Misclassified as An Independent Contractor?
An employer may misclassify an employee as an independent contractor to avoid paying them overtime hours. There are key distinctions between independent contractors and employees. For example, independent contractors are generally paid on a freelance basis and are exempt from overtime pay. Employees, however, are not always exempt and are paid either on an hourly or salary basis.
Working Hours Off the Clock?
Some bosses will demand that non-exempt employee’s clock out but continue to work. For example, restaurant employees may be told to clock out before they begin cleaning the restaurant and preparing it for the next day. If you are non-exempt from overtime pay and your employer is demanding you work off the clock, you may have a claim against your employer.
Listed above are only three of the many tactics employers use to avoid paying their workers earned overtime pay. If you believe you are due overtime pay but are not being compensated properly, consult with our Long Island or New York City Unpaid Overtime Attorneys today.
Reporting Concerns of Unpaid Overtime
If you believe you are entitled to overtime pay and are not receiving proper compensation, you may want to consider expressing your concerns in written documentation to your employer or a Human Resource representative. Your employer may remedy the issue. It is unlawful for your employer to retaliate against you in any form (ie., termination, demotion, denial of a promotion, etc.) for reporting your concerns. It is your right to do so. Should your employer take adverse action against you for reporting your concerns, you may have an additional claim for employer retaliation.