The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulates the labor practices of both private and federal employers in the United States. It was enacted to ensure that U.S. employers kept a fair and safe work environment for employees.
Included in this act are the bare minimum requirements for how employers must pay their employees. Those requirements include overtime pay for employees who have worked more than forty hours in a workweek.
The FLSA requires that hourly workers be paid overtime of, at minimum, 1.5x’s the normal hourly rate of their job. That means that even if you’re a minimum-wage worker ($7.25 per hour at the time of this writing), you’re entitled to at least 1.5x’s that rate ($10.875) for every hour that you work over forty hours.
However, employers have found creative ways to deny and avoid workers their rightful wages. That includes:
- Misclassifying hourly workers
- Asking hourly workers to “work off the clock”
- Assigning “special projects”
- Trying to make employees give up scheduled overtime hours
Despite those tactics, though, the FLSA grants hourly workers who are denied overtime legal remedies for these unfair practices. That includes receiving owed overtime wages as well as receiving liquidated damages equal to the dollar amount of wages owed as a way to compensate for the deprivation of rightfully earned overtime.
If you, as an hourly worker are still unsure whether or not you qualify for overtime wages guaranteed by the FLSA or whether it will be worth the time to pursue action, that’s okay. Your consultation is FREE! Call (404) 831-8721 or fill out the contact form to schedule your appointment.