Overtime Lawyer Blog

Despite Federal Law requiring most employers pay employees minimum wage and overtime compensation (unless exempt), some employers willfully try to avoid doing the right thing. In a couple of cases out of Ohio this week, the Department of Labor issued a strong warning to employers that they are cracking down on those who fail to pay workers what they deserve.

In one case, BP and Marathon gas station owners failed to pay previous and current service station workers minimum wage and overtime, and failed to keep accurate time and payroll records.

In another, an animal hospital paid employees the full amount of compensation they were entitled to, including overtime, but then required the employees to return the overtime portion in cash.

Both cases resulted in substantial penalties, requiring the employers to pay damages and back wages.

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The Department of Labor has recently issued a reminder to seasonal agricultural workers that several different federal laws protect the workers – both in terms of wages and hours worked and work-place conditions. These laws include: the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s Field Sanitation Standards.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis notes, “The Labor Department is committed to enforcing labor standard that protect and enhance the welfare of the nation’s farm workers…Through outreach, we are spreading the word to farm labor contractors and growers that they must pay their workers the wages they have earned.” Solis adds, “Each employer is also responsible for ensuring workers’ health and safety, workers should not have to lose their lives or risk their health while working to provide for their families.”

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The Department of Labor has just issued its final FLSA amendments to regulations concerning the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal employment law that sets forth several important rules concerning wages and overtime. These amendments hope to clarify questions concerning several pay issues.

One of the areas affected by the final rules concerns tip credits and tip pooling. Under the final amendment, the DOL makes it clear that employees own their tips and an employer may not take or divert the tips for any use, other than for a valid tip pool. An employee still owns the tips he or she receives even where an employer pays full minimum wage.

Further, if an employer plans to rely on a tip credit to as portion of wages, the employer is required to “inform” it employees of its intent to do so, and also must inform employees concerning:

• The amount of direct cash wages an employer is paying an employee;
• The amount of tips that will be credited toward minimum wage;
• That an employee must retain all tips where he or she is in a valid tip pooling arrangement among employees who regularly receive tips;
• The required tip pool contribution; and
• Any additional amount an employer is using as a credit against tips received.

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One of the most common – and costly – mistakes employers makes is misclassifying employees for payroll purposes. This may mean labeling you an “independent contractor” when you are really an “employee” or considering you “exempt” under the FLSA when you are not. When workers are misclassified they may miss out on a significant amount of pay by not receiving all of the overtime pay they are entitled to.

Many times, a misclassification occurs due to simple employer error – determining the right classification may be confusing. Other times, employer intentionally misclassifies workers in order to save significant amounts of money in overtime wages.

Recently, the Department of Labor (DOL) investigated overtime claims against Levi Strauss & Co.. After a two-year investigation, the DOL determined the jeans maker had misclassified several groups of workers, including assistant store managers, as exempt from overtime. The misclassified workers were required to work significant amounts of overtime including late-night closings, early-morning openings and during staffing shortages, all without pay. As a result of the investigation, 596 workers will receive $1,011,413 in back wages.

Continue reading " Levi’s Jeans Manufacturer To Pay $1 Million In Overtime " »