Helping Clients with Unpaid Overtime

San Diego Employment Lawyers
Helping Clients with Unpaid Overtime

Businesses exist for profit, and the bottom line at the end of each quarter and year is what tends to govern what’s done in the following weeks and months.  If a business shows a healthy profit, those who are assigned to increase the margins are rewarded.  However, if profits fall, people will generally be held accountable.  One of the biggest costs associated with any business is the payment of employees, and these costs rise quickly when overtime has to be paid.  However, that does not excuse an employer from paying overtime when it’s due.  If you have not been paid for overtime you worked, contact experienced San Diego employment lawyers to defend your rights.  In the meantime, below is an overview of this issue.

When Overtime Must be Paid

Overtime is not a perk that’s offered by certain employers.  It is the law.  Therefore, when workers work more than eight hours in a day or more than 40 hours in a week, they are entitled to overtime pay.  This overtime pay can be paid at 1.5 times the normal hourly rate or double time depending on the circumstances.  This notion is governed on the federal level by a statute known as the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA.

Tactics Used to Avoid Overtime Pay

Unfortunately, there are many steps that employers will take to avoid paying overtime to those who have it coming.  The sometimes confusing concept of ‘exempt’ employees is often used.  There are employees out there who are generally upper management types who are not due overtime for additional hours worked.  The trouble arises when an employer tells a worker that he or she is exempt when this is not accurate or when some title is given to a worker that indicates that he or she is a member of management.  In short, these situations come down to the facts, and the titles and assertions given by an employer could be largely irrelevant to the question at hand.

Remedies Available for Failure to Pay Overtime

Fortunately, the laws that exist on both the federal and state level provide for remedies for workers who have not been paid overtime that they earned.  These remedies can include the recapturing of the amount that should have been paid in overtime, interest on the money that was not paid, penalties that are paid by the employer and attorneys’ fees if an action is brought against the employer and is successful.

If you feel that you are not being paid overtime that you’ve earned, contact the San Diego employment lawyers at Mitchell | Gilleon today to schedule a free initial consultation.