BOWLING GREEN OVERTIME ATTORNEY

Our attorneys handle cases on behalf of workers in all fields; however, we’ve found that the following employees are more susceptible to wage and hour violations:

• IT workers;
• Service technicians;
• Installers;
• Sales representatives;
• Nurses and healthcare workers;
• Tipped employees;
• Oil and gas field workers;
• Call center workers;
• Personal bankers and mortgage brokers; and
• Retail employees.

If your job is on the list and you were denied overtime or otherwise paid improperly, you may be able to file an individual lawsuit or a collective action lawsuit on behalf of yourself and other employees.

Cases We Handle

There are a number of ways in which your employer may shortchange your wages in violation of federal or state law. For example, your employer may claim that you can’t receive overtime pay unless you have permission to work extra hours or refuse to pay you for time spent doing certain work-related activities (i.e. putting on safety equipment, checking emails from home, going to before and after-hours meetings. Below are examples of common cases our attorneys handle.

The employer misclassifies the workers as an “exempt” employee

Some employees are considered “exempt” from overtime pay and other federal pay provisions. This means they are not entitled to overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours a week. Unfortunately, employees can sometimes be wrongly classified as “exempt” because their employer doesn’t understand the law or is trying to avoid paying overtime. For instance, an employer may promote a cashier to assistant manager without changing the worker’s job duties to claim that he or she is an “exempt” manager and therefore not entitled to overtime wages.

The employer misclassifies the worker as an “independent contractor”

Independent contractors typically work on a contract basis for other businesses. They are considered self-employed and do not receive overtime pay. Our attorneys handle lawsuits against employers who have either intentionally or unintentionally misclassified their workers as independent contractors despite the fact that they meet the definition of an employee and should receive overtime pay.

The employer fails to pay the worker the minimum wage

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but some states have passed legislation enforcing a higher minimum wage. Despite federal and state laws, some employees are often cheated out of the minimum wage. Day-rate workers and tipped employees are particularly susceptible to minimum wage violations because of how they are paid.

The employer doesn’t pay for all hours worked

Time spent working for the benefit of your employer — regardless of whether you’re on the employer’s premises — is considered compensable time and should be paid.

Examples of compensable time include time spent:

• Checking emails from home;
• On-call;
• Turning on computers;
• Cleaning equipment;
• Putting on equipment;
• Undergoing security checks;
• Working through meal breaks;
• Attending training or safety classes; and
• Taking short breaks that last between 5 and 20 minutes.

The employer pools tips with non-tipped employees

Tip pooling occurs when tipped employees (e.g., waiters, busboys, bartenders, etc.) put their tips in a general “pool” that is later equally divided among tipped workers only. While these tips belong solely to tipped workers, non-tipped employees (e.g., the business owner, managers, cooks, etc.) may wrongly collect a portion of these tips. As a result, the tipped workers’ hourly pay may fall below the required minimum wage.

It is illegal for employers to retaliate against workers who file wage and hour lawsuits. Examples of retaliation include firing or demoting workers, reducing hours, assigning undesirable shifts, cutting down job duties or purposefully giving false performance reviews that negatively affect worker positions. If you were retaliated against after filing a lawsuit for lost wages, you may be able to file a separate, individual lawsuit against your employer.

Fill out our free case evaluation form today to see if you could have your job reinstated or recover compensation for a pay cut resulting from employer retaliation.

This will vary depending on the specifics of your case. In most cases, you can seek the difference between what you were paid and what you should have been paid under the law.

Employees can sue for wages that were lost during the two years prior to the filing of the lawsuit. If the court finds that an employer purposely broke the law, however, it may allow employees to recover compensation for up to three years.

At Morgan & Morgan, our lawyers only charge you if you win a favorable settlement or award. In these cases, we will collect a reasonable fee from the final verdict or settlement. If you believe your employer has wrongfully deprived you of overtime pay, we can help.

To find out what our Bowling Green overtime lawyers can do for you, please fill out our free, no-risk case evaluation form today.