Non-exempt employees who work over 40 hours in a workweek are entitled to overtime wages of time and a half. Call our Ohio FLSA Overtime Lawyers.
The answer to the question above is maybe. Employees are entitled to overtime compensation if they work over 40 hours in a workweek and they are non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). What does that mean? Whether an employee is exempt or non-exempt depends on the employee’s job duties. Employers may classify employees as exempt and pay them a salary, but that does not mean that employees are truly exempt from receiving overtime wages. Instead, an employee’s proper classification depends on the employee’s job duties.
If you are working over 40 hours per week (or in any week) and you are being paid a salary, you may have a claim for overtime wages if your employer has misclassified you. Call our office to speak about employee misclassification with Ohio FLSA overtime lawyers today.
In addition to misclassification, some other issues that may lead to unpaid overtime wages include but are not limited to comp time, automatic meal deductions, deductions, off-the-clock work, donning or doffing, travel time, and general refusal to pay overtime.
- Comp time
Comp time occurs where employers do not pay overtime, but instead bank the hours over 40 worked by employees and carry those hours forward to subsequent workweeks. By doing so, the employer refuses to pay overtime wages (time and a half) for the employees’ hours worked over 40. Private employers cannot legally have a comp time policy. If you have questions about your employer’s comp time policy, give us a call to speak about the FLSA with Ohio overtime lawyers.
It is also illegal for an employer to allow an employee to work more than 40 hours in one week, but then reduce their hours in the second week to keep their total hours at 80 or less for the biweekly pay period and only pay the employees at their regular rate of pay for all hours worked.
- Automatic meal deductions or other deductions
Employers cannot have automatic meal deduction policies if those policies result in employees having compensable time deducted from their hours worked without having an uninterrupted meal break. Oftentimes, employers have an automatic meal deduction policy, but employees are unable to take a bona fide meal break that is uninterrupted. If your employer has an automatic meal break deduction policy, you should contact our office to speak with Ohio overtime lawyers.
At times, employers make deductions from employees’ pay to avoid paying overtime. If your employer is reducing your compensable hours to not pay overtime, you should speak with Ohio wage and hour lawyers at our firm.
- Off-the-clock work
If your employer requires off-the-clock work, such as donning or doffing (before or after work preparatory activities), then you should contact our office to speak with our Ohio unpaid wages attorneys.
Next, if your employer refuses to pay travel time, then you should contact our office to speak with Ohio wage and hour attorneys.
Finally, if your employer generally refuses to pay overtime wages, then you should contact our office to speak with Ohio overtime attorneys.
Employers refuse to pay overtime for many different reasons, but their refusal is often illegal. If you have questions about whether you are entitled to overtime compensation, then you should contact our office for a FREE consultation about your rights. You will speak with experienced Ohio overtime lawyers who will advise you of your rights and guide you through the legal process.
