Get Paid What You Earned This Holiday Season
By Matthew Marks on December 20th, 2016 in In The News
Private sector businesses have one primary motive: profit. All business expenses, such as the purchasing of company equipment, renting space to operate the business, and employee wages all cut into the company’s gross profit. It is not uncommon for companies to try to cut down on these expenses to increase their profits. Employees also have rights, such as those granted by the Fair Labor Standards Act. These include the right to be paid 1.5 times one’s normal wage for hours worked beyond the standard 40-hour workweek and the right to be paid at least the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour. When a company violates its employees’ rights to save on business expenses, employees can suffer financially.
If your rights are being violated at work, do not allow your company to continue taking advantage of you. Contact an experienced employment lawyer to go over your rights and how to assert them through an unpaid wages claim.
Tasks That Should Qualify for Overtime
Any time you work more than 40 hours within a seven-day period, you are entitled to receive overtime pay. Even if you work 40 hours or less each week, you need to be paid for all of the time you spend performing your job. A few examples of workplace tasks that can often go overlooked and unpaid include:
- Setting up a workspace before one’s shift begins;
- Cleaning up after finishing work for the day;
- Requiring employees to work through their lunch or other breaks;
- Keeping an employee “on call” when he or she is not actually at work; and
- Requiring an employee to complete administrative work, such as the completion of paperwork related to the job, before or after his or her shift.
These types of incidences can seem minor, but they can quickly add up to substantial blocks of unpaid work time for an employee. Record all of the time you spend working outside your shift to determine whether you are missing out on wages you rightfully earned.
How to Confront your Boss About Unpaid Overtime Wages
Although you probably have strong feelings about your situation, remain calm and approach your employer in a non-confrontational way. Refrain from using accusatory language and instead, state the discrepancy between your hours worked and your compensation received with your pay stub and your time card. Sometimes, failing to pay employees overtime is merely a clerical oversight, rather than a malicious act.
Speak with an experienced employment lawyer about asserting your rights and seeking compensation for the overtime hours you worked. If your employer is not cooperative, you might need to file a wage and hour claim with the Department of Labor.
Work with an Experienced Queens Overtime Lawyer
If you are being denied the overtime pay you rightfully earn, you have the right to seek compensation for these hours. Contact Ricotta & Marks, P.C. to set up your initial legal consultation with an experienced wage lawyer on our team.