Unpaid Overtime and Minimum Wages: An Overview

Bober & Bober, P.A. is an employment law firm with an emphasis on claims involving unpaid wages, including unpaid minimum wages and overtime. We are dedicated to aggressively protecting the legal rights of employees to ensure they receive the wages they are entitled to under both federal and state laws. Many employees who seek our assistance are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), which is a national overtime pay law that covers certain employers and employees in all states. Bober & Bober, P.A. may be able to assist employees in Florida and, through affiliates, can try to assist employees throughout the United States. Employees can use the overtime calculator to obtain an estimate of the amount of wages they still may be owed under the overtime rules, and may wish to contact us directly by phone, e-mail, or through the free on-line questionnaire.

The federal FLSA generally requires most employers to pay their employees at the rate of time and one-half (1 ½ ) times their regular hourly rate when those employees work more than forty (40) hours per week. This may include employees who work forced, mandatory overtime as well as employees who simply work "off the clock." Generally, if an employer knows or reasonably should know that covered employees are working more than forty (40) hours per week, those employees should probably be paid overtime. Many employers wrongly believe that paying their employees a salary will, in and of itself, make that employee exempt (not-covered) by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Generally, even if a covered employee receives a salary, unless that employee is actually performing certain types of specified job duties, they will be entitled to receive overtime, even if their employer misclassifies them as “exempt.”

The FLSA is a national law and, therefore, it is applicable to employees in Florida and other states. Employers covered by the FLSA must pay at least the federal minimum wage as well as paying overtime. While Florida labor law guarantees other rights, many states have their own laws which protect the rights of their residents. Many employers, however, fail to follow the overtime labor law or even the minimum wage laws because they feel it is too expensive. Fortunately, employees have rights under the FLSA, including the right to file an overtime lawsuit or other wage claim when they are denied their lawfully due wages.

The United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) enforces the federal minimum wage and overtime law. Unfortunately, the DOL is frequently unable to help wronged employees because they simply have too few investigators and too many complaints to investigate. Therefore, most employees will want to obtain a private attorney to help them obtain their unpaid wages.

Many employees finally get around to seeking their wages under the federal overtime law once they have been a victim of wrongful termination and begin seeking unemployment compensation. Unfortunately, many employers refuse to give terminated employees their final paycheck. This may be a violation of the minimum wage law because an employee who receives nothing for wages is clearly getting less than the minimum wage. Employees who are subject to a bona fide wrongful firing should contact Bober & Bober, P.A. to discuss if they have an unpaid wage claim. Bober & Bober, P.A. can also assist with claims of employment discrimination, sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, whistle-blower complaints, wrongful termination, and retaliation.