Under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("the FLSA"), most employers must pay employees a minimum wage, pay overtime compensation at one and one-half times the regular hourly rate to employees who work over 40 hours in a workweek, and pay all employees the same wage without regard to race, national origin, gender and other protected characteristics.
Employers must pay overtime compensation to “non-exempt” employees. Employers are not required to pay overtime compensation to “exempt” employees, such as executives, professionals, certain administrative employees, some computer specialists, farm employees, and apprentices.
Employers often fail to pay overtime by misclassifying employees as "exempt," having employees work "off the clock," misclassifying employees as “independent contractors,” or refusing to pay employees for certain hours worked (such as while they are putting on uniforms or getting equipment or putting those same things away).
The FLSA does not allow private employers to give employees compensation (or "comp") time instead of overtime pay. This doesn't necessarily mean that an employee can't agree to take comp time, only that an employer cannot force an employee to take it instead of compensation.
Employers also sometimes do not pay any wages at all, claiming that they do not have the money or that the employee has lost his or her right to be paid for some other reason. This violates Colorado state law and may also violate the minimum wage provisions of the FLSA. In other cases, employers do not pay full wages to employees or pay below minimum wage when the wages for the week are averaged. This is almost always an illegal wage violation under the FLSA.
It does not matter if an employee agreed to work for less than minimum wage or for free: employees cannot waive their rights under the FLSA. Even if an employer strikes a “deal” with an employee – which purports to excuse the employer from paying overtime or even wages to the employee – the employer still has to pay wages. The FLSA does not allow employers to enter into such agreements with employees because it would be so easy for an employer to just claim "he just wanted to work a little more for free." If the employer allows an employee to work, it then has to pay the employee for the work performed.
Under the FLSA, employees may file a private suit against their employer for unpaid overtime or minimum wage violations. The FLSA imposes penalties on those employers who improperly classify their employees as "exempt." Congress intended the FLSA's remedies to deter violations as well as to compensate employees for underpaid work and consequently, depending on the violation involved, provide both "liquidated damages" and criminal penalties.
Violations of minimum wage and overtime payment requirements of the FLSA can lead to substantial recoveries for underpaid or unpaid employees. Employees are entitled to be properly paid for every hour worked, and under the FLSA's liquidated damages provision, wage differentials are almost always doubled to compensate the employee. Finally, a prevailing employee is entitled to recover their reasonable attorney's fees and costs, so that the employer, not the employee, pays for the employee's legal services.
In addition to representing clients on cases involving nonpayment of overtime, Baird Quinn also has substantial experience representing clients in cases involving:
• Alleged refusals to pay minimum wages;
• Alleged failure to pay for all overtime worked or payments at less than the required amount;
• Alleged payments with goods or serves instead of money.