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The Fair Labor
Standards Act (“FLSA”) was passed in 1938 as part of the economic
recovery after the Great Depression. The FLSA aimed to create
greater number of jobs that paid a minimum wage—which in 1938 was
$0.25/hr—and it also created a “penalty” by requiring
time-and-a-half overtime with the idea was that this overtime
penalty would give employers an incentive to spread the work among
more employees rather than making fewer employees work longer
hours.
Thus, FLSA
establishes a minimum wage for every hour worked by covered (nonexempt)
employees. And, perhaps more importantly, the FLSA contains
overtime provisions requiring payment of overtime wage (one-and-half times the regular rate)
for every hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Finally, the
FLSA also regulates child labor,
guarantees
equal pay regardless of sex, and imposes certain
recordkeeping requirements on employers.
The FLSA does not
limit the hours worked. Instead, it requires
overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The
hourly (nonexempt) employees must be paid a minimum wage of not
less than $5.85 per hour, unless the state and local laws have
minimum wage that is higher than that mandated by the FLSA, in that
case the
state or local laws control. The U.S. Congress has made
periodic
minimum wage
adjustments over time under the FLSA.
The FLSA allows an
employee to bring an action against his current or former employer
for violations of the Act on his or her own behalf and on behalf of
other similarly situated employees. A two-year
statute-of-limitations applies to violations of the FLSA,
however, if the violations are willful then a three-year
statute-of-limitation applies. That is, an employee can recover
two years (three years for willful violations) of unpaid wages
and/or overtime, liquidated damages, and attorney’s fees. Thus,
employees do not have to pay attorneys fees in cases involving FLSA
violations.
Common
Violations and Overtime Scams
A large number
of companies are
violating the FLSA. For the most
common violations of the FLSA or
overtime scams click
here.
Some of these common violations are:
-
Off-The-Clock Work:
Employees perform work for which the employer fails to
compensate. For example, employer may require employee(s) to
come before the “official start time” and make the employees
perform job related activities, such as pre-shift meetings,
changing clothes, or gathering tools, or preparing machines or
your work station.
-
Short Changing Hours
(Working During Breaks):
Many employers provide
lunch or meal breaks but, if during these meal
breaks the employees are regularly required to perform
job-related tasks (even inactive tasks such as watching a
machine), then the lunch break must be considered hours worked
and compensated.
Check here to check
if your state requires a rest or meal break.
-
Misclassifying Employees as Exempt:
Since
exempt
employees don’t have to be paid overtime, employers often try to
fit employees into exempt categories.
-
Miscalculation of Overtime Wages:
Overtime pay
must be one-and-a-half times the
“regular rate” of pay.
It
is quite common for employers to miscalculate the overtime wages
because employers often fail to include the all additional
payments made to the employees in the calculation of regular
rate of pay.
Additional FLSA Information
You can get the FLSA
posters and guides from the Department of Labor at the following
links:
If you have any
questions or need further information about this lawsuit or about
filing a "consent form,” please
contact the class counsel.
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