Overtime and Wage and Hour Claims in Los Angeles
New employment regulations prohibit employers from stiffing employees from their overtime pay. However, that doesn’t mean they never try to keep those extra earned wages from their workers. According to the University of Washington, “The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that most workers receive overtime pay at 1.5 times the employee’s regular pay rate for all hours worked over 40 hours in a seven-day workweek and that employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage.” In addition, employees are also entitled to overtime compensation whenever they work more than 8 hours in one day (but only receive overtime pay for the time worked after the 8-hour mark.) If you think you have owned any overtime pay please contact your California employment attorney for a confidential consultation.
Since the FLSA took effect some employers have tried to cheat their employees using old and new methods. For example, an employer might decide to deny overtime pay if it is not approved in advance. However, the FLSA treats approved and non-approved hours the same; meaning that once the hours are worked the employee is entitled to overtime pay.
Another strategy used to get around paying overtime is to classify salaried employees as exempt. This revolves around the idea that an employee that is paid a salary rather than an hourly wage cannot earn overtime. However, this notion is completely false because job titles and descriptions are not determinative factors. Whether an employee qualifies for overtime compensation is determined by the work they performed, not whether they are paid a salary or hourly.
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Other employers reduce hours on employee timecards for meal breaks when work is performed. Normally if an employee is entitled to a meal break his or her employer does not need to count the time as part of the total hours worked. But, if the employee works during the meal break, the time must count toward the hours worked for the day and the week.