Injury Law Firm Blog

Are You Paid for All Time You Work?

Working on Your Time?

What does your employer ask or demand that you do that they do not compensate you for? Are you required to come in prior to your shift to do a task? Does your employer insist that you complete tasks outside of the office without pay? It’s possible that these companies are committing violations and owe further compensation for these requirements. Even things that appear to be non-compensateable may fall under a category of requiring monetary payment for the time spent doing them.

Salaried Managers Are Misclassified and Owed Millions

Family Dollar was sued for misclassifying their managers as salaried employees. A Federal Court ruled that Family Dollar must pay $33.2 million for its mistake, which denied its employees’ millions of dollars in overtime pay.

Drivers of Small Trucks Entitled to Overtime Wages

Congress recently passed an amendment to a Federal law that may entitle certain transporation employees to overtime wages if they drive motor vehicles weighing 10,000 lbs or less.

Overtime Lawsuits are Hitting Big Firms

Many large companies have seen a rise in overtime lawsuits and are paying money to settle the cases. Large employees including Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, IBM, AT&T and RaceTrac have been sued in lawsuits that allege that they are denying overtime pay to hundreds, if not thousands, of employees. The Rasansky Law Firm has been directly involved with some of these lawsuits, actively recovering back wages owed to employees. Not only are there more suits being filed but employees are finding increasing success. The United States Department of Labor has reported a 26 percent increase in back wage claims won in 2005 as compared to 2001.

Commission-Only Employees Should Get Overtime

There is a common misconception that if you are paid on a commission basis, you are not entitled to overtime. In fact, one of the primary requirements that must be met for your employer to avoid paying you overtime is that the you be paid on a "salary basis." That means that each pay period you receive a predetermined amount constituting all or part of your compensation and that amount is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of the work you perform. Commissions fluctuate based on performance and are not a salary. Here is an example of how overtime payments to a commission-based employee might work:

IBM Employees Sue for Millions in Unpaid Overtime

IBM was sued for allegedly failing to pay overtime to thousands of its computer installers and maintenance workers throughout the United States. The suit was filed on behalf of three current and former workers, and seeks class-action status. Lawyers said they are seeking millions of dollars in back pay for employees of the world's biggest technology services provider. Experts speculated that the practice of not paying overtime to workers who deserve it was widespread in the technology industry.

Abercrombie Overtime Lawsuit Settlement

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will pay as much as $2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by more than 250 California store managers claiming the retailer violated overtime laws.

The suit, filed in July of 2002, claimed that store managers were required to work, in some instances, more than 60 hours per week with no overtime pay. The plaintiffs claimed that Abercrombie wrongly classified store managers as salaried employees exempt from overtime pay laws.

Although this case was brought under California laws, under Federal law, the question of whether an employee is entitled to overtime pay depends on their job duties.  For more information on overtime laws click here or contact the Rasansky Law Firm at 1-800-ATTORNEY.

Federal Court Certifies a Class-Action Lawsuit Regarding Unpaid Overtime for Loan Officers

First Horizon Mortgage Companyfaces a class-action suit for unpaid overtime filed by several former loan officers for the mortgage company. The former employees state that First Mortgage did not pay them overtime and violated the law.