The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established that employers were required to pay overtime to employees who worked more than 40 hours in a week. However, some employers violate the FLSA by not paying his or her employees overtime. If your employer has not paid you overtime after you worked more than 40 hours in a week, call a Chattanooga unpaid overtime lawyer right away. One of our seasoned attorneys could assess your situation and see if you are entitled to compensation for your lost wages.
Defining Overtime Work
Overtime work is defined by the FLSA. Overtime is anytime an employee works more than 40 hours in a given week. Sometimes employers on his or her own classify overtime differently and he or she might count it as overtime sooner than 40 hours. A few employers may pay double the time after a certain number of hours. For purposes of wage and hours law, most employees must be paid one and a half times his or her hourly rate for any hours worked over 40.
Working Before or After a Shift Begins
If the employee is performing tasks that are for the benefit of the employer’s business, that means he or she is working under the job description before he or she clocks in. Most of the time, he or she is entitled to payment for that time.
Employers can not make employees work off the clock. Under the FLSA, an employer must pay employees for any time marked even if he or she is choosing to do so on his or her own accord.
The exception is when employers in these types of cases will say the employee was working on his or her own, off the clock, without notifying the employer. The employer may try to say he or she had no way of knowing the employee was working off the clock. An employer can often avoid liability for those hours by making that argument, which is why an employee should notify his or her employer if he or she is working off the clock.
Fluctuating Workweek
At some workplaces, the employer may offer a fluctuating workweek. A fluctuating workweek is when an employee sometimes works more than 40 hours one week and will work less than 40 hours during other weeks. When this is the case, the employer will usually pay the employee a fixed salary regardless of the number of the hours he or she works. When he or she works more than 40 hours a week, he or she gets paid a lower rate, but when he or she works less than 40 hours, he or she gets paid a higher rate.
If an employee is classified as a fluctuating workweek employee and has issues with the amount they are being paid, then he or she should contact an unpaid overtime attorney in Chattanooga.
How an Attorney Can Assist You
If a person believes his or her employer is violating the FLSA, the first action the person should take is contact the human resources department. Most employers should have a person or a department committed to sorting out issues like unpaid overtime. Sometimes a simple talk with HR fixes the problem.
The next thing an employee should do is contact the United States Department of Labor if he or she thinks he or she has a case. The Department of Labor is in charge of enforcing these type of issues. The Department of Labor may conduct an investigation and determine whether the employee is misclassified or if the employer is not correctly paying the employee overtime.
After an employee does this, he or she should consult a Chattanooga unpaid overtime lawyer as soon as possible. An attorney can assist an employees case by gathering evidence of any wrongdoing by the employer and then filling a claim.
