Posted by robert ottinger on Fri, Jul 09, 2010 @ 06:39 AM
A Boston based hospital group agreed to settle an overtime pay class action law suit for 8.5 million. The hospital group was sued by former and current employees who claimed they were not paid for working through lunch and for extra time worked after the end of their shift. The overtime class action suit alleged that the hospitals had a common practice of not paying its working staff overtime pay.
Non-exempt employees must be paid for the time that they work. It is a simple concept but companies routinely fail to pay their employees for all of the time worked. If employees work through lunch or stay late, they must receive overtime pay for these extra hours.
Posted by robert ottinger on Sun, May 09, 2010 @ 12:07 AM
Overtime pay is governed by federal and state law. The federal law is called the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA). These federal and state laws provide that employees should get overtime pay unless they fall into specific narrow exceptions. Under these laws, an employee must be paid time-and-a-half (overtime) for each hour worked over 40 in a week. This rule does not apply to someone who falls into one of the exemptions.
California provides even more overtime pay protection. If you work in California, you not only get time-and-a-half for each hour worked over 40 in a week, you also get 1.5 times your normal rate for each hour over 8 worked in a day, plus double time for each hour worked over 12 in a work day, an unpaid 30 minute meal break after 5 hours, and a 10-minute rest break every 4 hours. Those are the basics of overtime pay. The picture can get murky once you get into all of the exceptions to overtime pay.
Generally, everyone is assumed to be entitled to the overtime pay rules described above. But, companies are free classify their employees as exempt from these overtime laws if they fit into any of the narrow exemptions. Companies often try to classify their employees as exempt because then they get more work out of their employees for less. The problem is that many companies go to far and exempt many workers who really are entitled to overtime pay. Employees can challenge their employers by filing a claim with the Department of Labor or by suing the company themselves.
One of the more common tricks companies use is to misclassify an employee as exempt from overtime pay and pay the person a salary. People generally assume that salaried employees are not entitled to overtime pay, but this is wrong. Your title or pay formate (salary vs. hourly) makes no difference. If you want to know if you are entitled to overtime pay you can call our law firm and we will tell you - it is fairly easy to make this determination in most cases.
Posted by robert ottinger on Sun, Apr 11, 2010 @ 03:55 PM
In California, employees ARE entitled to rest breaks. Here are the 3 key points to remember:
1. You are Entitled to a 10 minute break every 4 hours
California employees must be provided with a 10-minute paid rest period for every four hours worked. The 10 minute rest period should be in the middle of the work period.
2. If You Don't Get a Break, You are Entitled to an Extra Hour of Pay
If your employer does not let you take your 10 minute break after four hours, then your employer must pay one extra hour of pay at your regular rate for every day that a rest break is not provided.
3. You can Enforce Your Rights if a Break or Extra Pay is Not provided
If your employer does not provide the required rest break or pay you the extra one hour of pay at your regular rate, then you can file a wage claim with the the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.