Suing employers for unpaid overtime sends a strong message that violations of wage and hour laws will not be tolerated. But when numerous employees band together they can wield power in an environment in which workers are often at a marked disadvantage. A judge recently upheld the right of employees to join...
Misclassifying employees as independent contractors is a common way that employers attempt to circumvent the nation’s wage and hour laws. This practice caught up with a legal services company when current and former intake specialists filed a lawsuit seeking unpaid overtime. The case illustrates how abuse of the independent contracting...
Does the time it takes for a computer to start up count towards your work hours? According to the Ninth Circuit, it does. And while this may not seem like a great amount of time, the minutes required to boot up a computer can add up to significant pay. There may be...
More than $1.3 million in wages and penalties was recently collected on behalf of workers who were employed on a public works project. The case involved what are known as prevailing wages, a term that is relevant when discussing pay on government jobs. Whether you work for a private employer or a...
Once considered a staple of the American workforce, time and a half is under constant attack from employers who are determined to find ways around the law. Knowing how time and a half (overtime) pay should work is the responsibility of every employee. But protecting the right to time and a half...
A Virginia home healthcare agency is learning the hard way about a fundamental rule concerning worker pay: employees cannot waive their rights to overtime. After illegally asking 50 workers to forgo time and a half pay, it is compensating workers for over $604,000 in back wages and liquidated...
A $22 million verdict against one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers marks the largest award on record under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the primary federal law that governs minimum wage, overtime, and related issues. The lawsuit against East Penn Manufacturing Co. was filed on behalf...
Paying workers on time in California isn’t just a good business practice; it’s the law. State legislators have long recognized that late payments cause serious financial disruption to a person’s life and essentially amount to wage theft. Workers who are not paid on time can recover monetary penalties...
Giving an employee a fancy or creative title is one of many ways that employers try to skirt overtime laws. What they fail or refuse to understand, however, is that merely handing out a title does not negate an employer’s obligation to pay the employee overtime. This practice has recently caught the...
The rights of employees don’t just include being paid a fair and legal wage. Often, issues regarding the misuse of employee data emerge with serious implications for the privacy interests of workers. Illinois is one particular example of where workers are frequently subjected to the improper collection and distribution of their sensitive...
