The Law Office of Robert Wiley, P.C. represents workers in wage disputes. If you believe you have unpaid wages, were paid less than the minimum wage, or were not paid overtime, please contact us.

Every year employers in the United States underpay their employees by literally billions of dollars. Nearly every American worker is eligible to be paid (1) minimum wages, which are currently $7.25 per hour, and (2) overtime wages of one-and-one-half times their regular hourly rate.

Only certain high level managers, administrators, and professionals may be paid a salary in lieu of overtime. The exceptions are few and far between. When an employer mistakenly pays a worker by salary or commission, but should have been paying hourly wages with overtime, this is called “misclassification.” An employee who is misclassified may be owed hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars in underpaid wages.

Many employees mistakenly believe that they do not have an overtime claim because the employer pays them a salary. This is completely wrong. The law, not the employer, dictates who can be paid a salary and who must be paid hourly. An employer who only pays a salary and that should have been paying hourly with overtime is violating the law if the employee works over forty hours in a workweek.

ARE YOU MISCLASSIFIED?

If you believe you may be owed wages, please contact us. If you are working more than forty hours per week and not paid an overtime premium for your work, we would like to speak with you. This is true even if you were paid salary, commission, or some other rate.

The following jobs are prone to misclassification:

• Inside salespeople. If you sit at your desk and make sales, you are entitled to an overtime premium when you work over forty hours in a workweek. This is true even if you are paid by commission.
• Call center employees.
• Local drivers, limo drivers, and intrastate drivers, particularly if your vehicle is the size of an Econoline van or smaller.
• Leasing agents, leasing consultants, leasing specialists.
• New home salespeople who sit in a model home all day.
• Real estate appraisers.
• Clerical workers.
• Assistant managers.
• Manual laborers, blue collar workers, and anyone whose job is physical in nature.
• Computer and IT employees.
• Paralegals.
• Special investigators.
• Recruitment consultants.
• AND ANYONE ELSE WHO WORKS MORE THAN FORTY HOURS IN A WEEK AND IS NOT PAID OVERTIME FOR ANY REASON.

HOW IS OVERTIME CALCULATED?

Overtime is paid at one-and-one-half times a worker’s regular hourly rate. For instance, if a worker is paid $10 per hour, he or she must be paid $15 per hour after the first forty hours.

Except in unusual circumstances, an employee may not be given comp time instead of overtime.

If you worked over forty hours and your employer paid you the same hourly rate for all hours worked, please contact us immediately.

HOW COME WAITERS ARE PAID $2.13 AN HOUR IF THE MINIMUM WAGE IS $7.25?

Restaurants and other employers of tipped workers can pay employees $2.13 an hour only if the employee if $2.13 per hour plus the employees tips is greater than $7.25 per hour. If the $2.13 per hour plus the employee’s tips is less than $7.25, the employer must make up the difference out of the employer’s own pocket.

This $5.12 difference is called a “tip credit.” This method of paying employees is an exception to the rule and it is a privilege – not a right. An employer who fails to meet all the regulations loses the privilege of taking the tip credit. The employer must then go back and pay tipped employees two times the tip credit (currently $10.24) for each hour worked in the past two or three years – ouch!

There are many ways that a tip pool could be invalid. An employer could fail to adequately inform workers of how the tip pool works, could include employees in the tip pool (like managers, dishwashers, cooks) who cannot be included in a tip pool, could make improper deductions from a worker’s pay (like glass breakage, shortages), or could include involuntary tips in the pool (only voluntary tips left by customers are considered tips, a mandatory tip does not count as a tip under the tip pool law).

If you are a tipped employee and you believe you were improperly paid, please contact us.

PLEASE CONTACT US

The Law Office of Robert Wiley, P.C. has handled a large number of overtime claims. We have filed dozens of class actions. We aggressively pursue unpaid overtime and minimum wage claims. Please contact us if you even suspect that you may be mispaid.