Employers frequently violate overtime laws. They designate employees as "exempt" from overtime when they should be classified as "non-exempt." The law generally requires that employees be paid time and a half for all hours over forty (40) in a week. Despite these laws, most of which date back to the 1930s, employees are frequently denied the overtime pay that they have earned and that they deserve.
If you don't manage at least two full time people (or 80 hours per week of part time staff), you are not an exempt manager.
If your work doesn't relate to the general administration of the company or if you don't exercise discretion and judgment on matters of significance, you aren't an exempt administrator.
If you don't have a professional degree (law, accounting, engineering, etc...) you aren't an exempt professional.
Am I entitled to overtime pay?
Do any of these sound familiar?
You are paid a “flat salary” no matter how many hours you work, but you are not really involved in management, supervision or decision making for the business.
You are required to clock out at your exact scheduled finish time, but continue working “off the clock” to finish your work, clean equipment or do a few extra work-related tasks.
You take work home with you, but do not include the time spent working at home on your time record and your employer permits this.
You work through your lunch break or eat lunch at your desk, but the time allowed for lunch is deducted on your time record.
You are paid “straight time” for all hours you work, even if you work over 40 hours in a single workweek.
Your hours are averaged over 2 or more workweeks to determine overtime. If you work 50 hours one week and 30 hours the next (for an average of 40 hours per week), you are paid for 80 regular hours and no overtime.
You are not paid for overtime hours because you didn’t “put in” or get permission to work, although your employer knows (or has reason to believe) you are doing the work.
You are treated as an “independent contractor,” but your work is largely controlled by the company.
Your employer doesn’t keep track of your hours or does so in a sloppy manner that results in you getting shorted on your time.
You are periodically paid a “bonus” or something “extra” for working overtime, instead of being paid time and a half for each hour worked over 40 in a single workweek.
Your bonuses, shift differential, commissions and/or other incentive pay are not included when calculating your overtime pay rate.
You don’t work for the government, but get “comp time” instead of overtime pay.
You are required to do a lot of traveling on behalf of your employer, either from job site to job site or overnight, but are not paid for some or all of the time spent traveling.
You are required to attend work-related meetings and/or training sessions, but these hours are not included on your weekly time record.
If any of these sound familiar, you may be owed overtime wages. You should not delay. There are time limitations on when employees can make claims for unpaid wages. Contact us to discuss this issue today.
Recent Cases
In a case handled by the Hayber Law Firm, a Connecticut District Court judge recently held that plaintiffs were entitled to equitable tolling of the statute of limitations on their Fair Labor Standards Act and Connecticut Minimum Wage Act claims where employer failed to display overtime wage posters. Asp & Mertes v. Milardo Photography, Inc., 2008 WL 3982652 (D. Conn., August 28, 2008).
Field Service Technicians awarded backpay and double liquidated damages where employer could not prove that it made any attempt to determine the extent to which employees were entitled to be paid overtime. Kautch v. Premier Communications, 2008 WL 539324 (W.D. Missouri)
Attorney Hayber recently won a ruling from Judge Janet Bond Arterton of the District of Connecticut that an automobile damage appraiser at the Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company is entitled to pursue his claim for unpaid overtime compensation. The Court rejected the defendant’s claim that the plaintiff was an exempt claims adjuster. Neary v. Metropolitan Property and Casualty Ins. Co., 2007.
Recently, the FLSA was amended to cover drivers of trucks weighing below 10,000 pounds. Before the amendment, the FLSA contained a Motor Carrier Act (MCA) exemption, which made it so that hours worked by truck drivers were not regulated by the Department of Labor and therefore not covered under the FLSA. In 2005, the MCA exemption was appealed for drivers of trucks weighing below 10,000 pounds. As the law stands now, drivers of trucks weighing under 10,000 pounds are covered by the FLSA. Therefore, if they are working more than 40 hours, they are entitled to overtime pay.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that an engineer with only a high-school degree was not exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. His employer argued that his job involved high-level duties that qualified him for the “Professional” exemption from the FLSA, and that he was not entitled to overtime pay. The appeals court affirmed that trial court’s holding that for a position to be properly classified as exempt from overtime pay requirements, it must require some sort of higher level education. Young v. Cooper Cameron Corp., ---F.3d ---, 2009 WL 3763848 (2d Cir. Nov. 12, 2009).
The Hayber Law Firm, LLC, Employee Rights Advocates, 221 Main Street, Suite 502 Hartford, CT 06106
