Employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must receive overtime pay for time worked over forty (40) hours per workweek of at least one and a half (1.5) times their regular rates of pay. An employer who requires or permits an employee to work overtime has to do the following:
– pay the employee premium pay for overtime work even if the employee earns salary.
However, some employees and employers are exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Exemptions are few and narrowly construe against the employer asserting them. The U.S. Department of Labor cautions employers to always examine the specific language of the asserted exemption in light of the employee’s actual duties before assuming that the exemption applies to the employee. The employer, not the employee, has the burden of proving that the exemption applies.
Fair Standards Act Law
Employers and employees may not agree to forego the payment of overtime wages. Nor shall an agreement waive the overtime requirement. In other words, if a non-exempt employee works over 40 hours in a workweek, it entitles them to overtime pay, regardless if the employer
- Directs or makes an agreement with employees to work only forty (40) hours per week;
- announces that they will permit no overtime work.
- That they will not pay overtime work unless authorized in advance.
None of these agreements or policies impair the employee’s right to compensation for compensable overtime hours worked.
Additionally, some states such as New York, Nevada, and California have their overtime and minimum wage regulations. Which employees can receive compensation for lost wages.
If you believe that you have not received fair compensation for your hours worked in the past three (3) years, contact the attorneys at Perdue & Kidd to discuss and evaluate your rights as an employee to wages owed to you.
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