WAGE & OVERTIME VIOLATIONS
An experienced wage and overtime attorney will help you navigate the complicated process of pursuing legal action against your employer. They will make sure your rights are preserved and will protect you from retaliation.
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If an employer violated wage or hour laws and failed to pay your due wages, you may be entitled to compensation and other damages.
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Hourly Pay & Retaliation
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but states may set their own minimum wage requirements, as long as they exceed the federal amount. In Michigan, the Workforce Opportunity Wage Act set the minimum wage at $10.10 per hour beginning on January 1, 2023.
The FLSA and state labor laws also entitle non-exempt workers to overtime pay of at least one-and-one-half times their standard hourly rate when they work more than 40 hours per workweek. A workweek is any regularly occurring and fixed period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour periods.
The FLSA also expressly prohibits an employer from taking any sort of retaliatory action against an employee seeking to enforce their rights under the Act. If an employer retaliates against an employee for exercising their FLSA rights, the employer will be responsible for paying all of the employee’s lost wages, costs, and attorney fees.
Featured Result
100 PERCENT
Back wages in failure to pay overtime settlement
Common violations:
- Paying less than the minimum wage
- Paying workers for fewer than the total number of hours worked
- Failing to compensate workers for overtime hours at one- and one-half times their regular hourly rate
- Failing to include commissions, non-discretionary bonuses, and other incentive pay in the calculation of the employee's overtime rate
- Misclassifying employees as exempt or independent contractors
- Requiring employees to work “off the clock” without pay
- Making employees set up or prepare for work, dress in required gear and equipment, or clean up without pay
- Interrupting or cutting short meal and rest breaks to force employees to work
- Keeping inaccurate pay records
- Withholding pay as punishment or for poor performance
- Taking improper deductions from employee pay
- Wrongly charging employees for mandatory uniforms and equipment, store losses, and register shortages
- Withholding tips from workers
- Forcing tipped workers to share tips with other employees who do not typically receive tips
Young Workers
Teenage workers are also at risk for wage abuse. The law allows young people between the ages of 16-17 to be paid 85 percent of the minimum wage. They also can be paid a training wage of $4.25 for the first 90 days of employment. Some employers, however, cheat teenage employees by paying them less than the reduced rate.
Other groups who can legally be paid less than minimum wage include learners, apprentices, and individuals who cannot meet standard production speeds or outputs due to disabilities or other circumstances. Even if some groups are subject to other wage guidelines, it does not make them immune to wage and overtime violations – they may even be more susceptible to wage theft.
Featured Result
$11.3 million
Settlement on behalf of misclassified employees
Class Action Wage Lawsuits
Often, an employer engages in an unlawful pay practice that violates the rights of several employees. When many similarly situated workers are mistreated in the same way, pursuing their rights in a class action or collective action is appropriate.
Class actions are especially useful for bringing litigation on behalf of employees wronged by large and powerful companies. Those companies frequently have a team of lawyers defending them from wage and hour claims, and an individual lawsuit by a single worker could drag on for years and at great expense. In class actions, all of the plaintiffs are represented by the same lawyers, making it not only economical but also often resulting in a speedier resolution.
Successfully coordinating a class action lawsuit requires a firm with a knowledgeable team, specialized skills, and extensive resources. Sommers Schwartz is that firm. Our attorneys have fought and won wage and overtime cases of all sizes, including lawsuits involving tens of thousands of plaintiffs.
Helping employees wronged by large companies.
Contact an Accomplished Wage and Overtime Attorney
The lawyers at Sommers Schwartz hold employers accountable for violating the rights of their workers. To speak with a Sommers Schwartz attorney about your case and determine the best move forward, call (800) 783-0989 for a free consultation.
An experienced wage and overtime attorney will help you navigate the complicated process of pursuing legal action against your employer. They will make sure your rights are preserved and will protect you from retaliation.