For many employees, working more than 40 hours per week is all too common. When most employees work more than 40 hours per week, they are considered to be working overtime and are entitled to additional compensation at a rate of 1.5 times their regular rate of pay. However, some employees who have been promised extra pay for working overtime find they never receive the money owed them by their employer. As a result, they choose to file lawsuits against their employer in an attempt to collect the money to which they feel entitled. Yet is some instances, extenuating circumstances can muddle the situation.
Overtime Exemptions
Though an employee may have been promised overtime, there are certain types of employment that have been determined to be exempt from overtime pay. Generally, these are positions of leadership in a company or organization, often involving significant amounts of administrative or executive duties. In some situations, employees who were initially promised overtime pay are later found to be exempt from payment due to promotions or mistakes in determining eligibility. However, in other situations, employers may attempt to alter job duties or job titles in an attempt to negate any promises of overtime pay. If this is the case, consultation with a legal professional may be needed.
Legal Remedies
In many situations involving overtime pay disputes, there is often more than one employee who is being affected. Depending on the size of the business, it may be only one employee affected or potentially hundreds claiming they were promised extra pay for working extra hours. If no resolution can be found for the conflict, groups of employees may choose to band together and file a class-action lawsuit against their employer for unpaid wages. While this is often considered a last resort in many situations, past results have proven to be effective.
Additional Complaints
Along with failing to receive overtime pay for extra work, some employees also fault employers for failing to pay them for attendance at mandatory meetings or training sessions, unpaid work prior to beginning a shift, or forcing them to work through lunch breaks. All of these can add up to a failure to receive overtime pay, and each individual employee’s situation may be different. But if a promise to receive overtime pay has not been fulfilled and speaking with the employer has gone nowhere, seeking legal advice may be a wise choice.