At Donald W. Fohrman & Associates, Ltd., our full-service overtime wage claim law firm helps clients throughout Illinois in all types of minimum wage claim and overtime wage claim cases. Our overtime wage claim attorneys provide highly skilled consultation and representation for employees who have been victims of not receiving their hard earned money from their employers. With a combined experience of 96 years, our wage claim lawyers know what it takes to achieve results for our clients. If you have an employer who has failed to pay you minimum wage or overtime wages, call 312-661-0450, toll free at 800-437-2571 or contact us online to schedule your free initial consultation.
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Your Employer Could Be Violating The Law By Failing To Pay You Minimum Or Overtime Wages
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)is a federal law that requires overtime pay to be paid to most employees at the rate of one and one-half times their regular rate of pay when employees work more than 40 hours in a week. (The regular rate of pay is equal to an employee’s hourly rate of pay or higher). The majority of employees in this country are covered by the FLSA. Unfortunately, employers violate the overtime pay laws in many different and sometimes creative ways.
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Some of the most common ways that employers violate the overtime laws include:
- Improper calculation of the rate at which overtime is paid
- Failure to count work time in computing overtime pay such as working employees “off-the-clock” or failing to count pre-shift or post-shift activities as work time
- Improperly failing to pay employees true time and one-half overtime pay by wrongly claiming that the employees are somehow exempt from the overtime laws.
- Perhaps the greatest misconception among employees is that their employer does not have to pay them overtime if they are paid on a salaried basis. THIS IS FALSE. Salaried employees are entitled to overtime pay as long as their job duties do not fit within one of the exemptions to the overtime pay laws.
- Deducting time for breaks and lunch even though they were not taken by the employee.
- Paying straight time for any time worked over 40 hours
- Altering time sheets to reflect that no overtime was worked
In overtime pay cases, courts presume that all employees are entitled to time and one-half overtime compensation. Only those employees who an employer can prove fit within one of the exemptions to the FLSA can lawfully be denied overtime pay.
State laws can provide benefits that are in addition to the benefits provided under the FLSA. For example, some states require employees who are not covered by the FLSA to be paid overtime compensation. In addition, some states require that overtime be calculated at higher rates than the FLSA.
Special rules apply to employees of federal, state and local governments in the areas of fire protection and law enforcement, volunteering and compensatory time. A limited partial overtime exemption applies to law enforcement and fire protection employees.
Statute of Limitations
An Illinois employee can file a claim for unpaid overtime in Illinois and in Federal Court. The Federal Court will simply enforce both laws. If the Illinois law provides a greater benefit than the FLSA, the court will enforce the one providing the greater benefit.
In Illinois a claim for overtime must be filed within three years from the date the pay was earned. Under the FLSA, a claim for overtime pay must be filed within two years and can be filed up to three years if the employee can show that the employer “consciously and intentionally, violated the FLSA.
If you believe that you have a minimum wage or overtime claim, please contact our office, anytime, at 800-437-2571, for a free, confidential, no obligation consultation with a qualified attorney from our office or use our Do I have a claim? submission form.
Retaliation for filing a complaint for overtime wages
The law prohibits any employer from retaliating against an employee for filing a claim for overtime wages. If your employer does this, he or she can be held legally responsible both civilly and criminally.
Some examples of retaliation include:
- Terminating an employee for no apparent reason or fabricating a reason.
- Denying the employee a raise
- Assigning tasks to the employee outside of their normal scope of employment
- Limiting the employee’s job duties
- Blacklisting an employee
- Refusing to hire an employee who may have filed an FLSA complaint against another employer.
- Firing a relative or a family member of the employee
- Giving poor performance reviews
- Over disciplining the employee
If the employer’s retaliation against the employee is proved to be egregious, the employee could be awarded punitive damages.
Most companies would like to avoid a retaliation lawsuit in addition to the other overtime issues they are facing. Contact our office today at 800-437-2571, to discuss your claim with an experienced Chicago overtime wage claim lawyer.
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