Are You Being Paid for All the Time You Work?

If you are working the hours but not receiving all of the pay you earned, the problem may be more than a payroll mistake. Federal and state wage-and-hour laws may protect workers from unpaid wages or overtime, off-the-clock work, improper classification, unlawful pay practices, and other failures to pay for compensable work.

Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents workers in wage-and-hour class and collective actions. If you believe you are not being paid correctly, contact us to discuss how you are paid, the hours you actually work, your job duties, and the compensation practices affecting you and other workers.

Selected Wage & Hour Cases and Employee Claims

The table below highlights selected wage-and-hour cases involving issues that may affect workers, including unpaid overtime, off-the-clock work, misclassification, meal and rest break practices, and other pay practices. The table is selective and is not intended to identify every FLSA or wage-and-hour case.

Please be aware that inclusion of a matter in the table does not indicate that Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents the parties involved. These matters are provided for informational purposes as examples of wage-and-hour issues that may affect workers.

Common Wage & Overtime Problems 

The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) establishes federal protections concerning minimum wage, overtime pay, hours worked, recordkeeping, and certain other workplace rights. State and local laws may provide additional or greater protections.

Wage violations can take many forms. Some common warning signs include:

• Unpaid overtime — You regularly work more than 40 hours in a workweek but do not receive the overtime pay required by law.
• Working before or after your shift — You perform required tasks before clocking in or after clocking out, such as opening or closing duties, preparing equipment, logging into systems, completing paperwork, security checks, or handoff work.
• Work during meal breaks — Your meal period is automatically deducted even though you continue working, remain responsible for duties, answer calls, monitor patients or customers, or are frequently interrupted.
• Required training, meetings or other work time — You attend required meetings, training, orientation, pre-shift activities, or other employer-required activities without being paid for compensable time.
• Being paid a salary but denied overtime — Your employer treats you as exempt from overtime because you are salaried or have a particular job title, even though your actual duties may not satisfy the requirements for an overtime exemption.
• Independent-contractor or 1099 classification — You are called an independent contractor or paid on a 1099, but the realities of the working relationship may indicate that you are an employee entitled to wage-and-hour protections.
• Incorrect overtime rate — Your overtime may be calculated using the wrong regular rate, including situations where certain nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions, shift differentials, or other compensation should be considered in the overtime calculation.
• Tip and tip-pool problems —You are a tipped worker and have concerns about tip pooling, tip credits, deductions, managers or supervisors receiving tips, or whether you received the wages and tips required by law.
• Pay deductions or charges — Deductions for uniforms, tools, equipment, shortages, breakage, or other expenses reduce your wages in a way that may violate applicable law.
• Unpaid travel or waiting time — You spend time traveling between work locations, waiting while engaged for work, or performing other employer-directed activities that may count as compensable time.
• Hours worked at multiple locations or departments — You work for the same employer at more than one location or in more than one department, but your hours are not combined when determining whether overtime is due.
• Piece-rate, day-rate, commission or other pay plans — You are paid by the job, day, piece, commission, or another method and may not be receiving all minimum-wage or overtime compensation required for the hours you actually work.
• Time records that do not reflect your actual hours — Your time is rounded, edited, automatically deducted, capped, or otherwise recorded in a way that leaves out work you actually performed.
• Retaliation for raising pay concerns — Your hours, position, pay, assignments, or employment are threatened or changed after you ask about unpaid wages, overtime, or cooperate with a wage investigation.

Not every pay dispute violates the FLSA, and different rules can apply depending on the job, industry, pay method, and state. The important question is whether the law requires compensation for the work you performed and whether you received the pay you were entitled to receive.

Is the Same Pay Practice Affecting Your Coworkers?

Wage-and-hour problems are often caused by a policy or practice that affects more than one employee. For example, an employer may classify an entire job position as exempt, automatically deduct meal periods, require a group of employees to complete unpaid pre-shift work, or use the same method to calculate overtime for many workers.

When employees are affected by a common pay practice, wage claims may sometimes be pursued on behalf of groups of workers through an FLSA collective action, a class action under applicable state law, or other legal procedures. Whether a group claim is appropriate depends on the facts and applicable law.

What Information Can Help With a Wage & Overtime Claim?

You do not need to have every record before asking questions about your pay. If you are concerned about unpaid wages or overtime, however, information you are lawfully entitled to keep may help explain what happened:

• Pay stubs, wage statements, direct-deposit records, and W-2 or 1099 forms
• Timecards, schedules, punch records, or screenshots of scheduling/timekeeping systems
• Your approximate start and end times when the employer’s records do not reflect all hours worked
• Offer letters, compensation plans, commission plans, or employment agreements
• Job descriptions and information about the duties you actually perform
• Emails, text messages, or other communications showing work performed outside recorded hours
• Policies concerning overtime approval, meal periods, timekeeping, tips, deductions, or remote work
• Records of bonuses, commissions, shift differentials, incentive payments, or other compensation
• Documents or communications concerning your classification as exempt, salaried, or an independent contractor
• Communications concerning complaints you made about wages, hours, or overtime

Do not take or retain confidential employer information or records that you are not legally entitled to possess.

Experiencing a Wage & Hour Problem?

If any of these situations sound familiar or if you believe you have been denied overtime, required to work without pay, misclassified, subjected to improper tip or deduction practices, or otherwise denied wages you earned, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is available to evaluate your circumstances and potential legal rights.

For a free, no-obligation legal evaluation, send us a message or contact:

Michael Yarnoff, Esq.
(215) 792-6676, Ext. 804
[email protected]
[email protected]

About Kehoe Law Firm, P.C.

Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a nationally recognized, plaintiff-side class action law firm representing employees, investors, and consumers in matters involving employment law violations, securities fraud, corporate misconduct, antitrust violations, whistleblower claims, data breaches, consumer fraud, mergers and acquisitions, and retirement-plan mismanagement.

Kehoe Law Firm’s class action legal services are provided on a contingency-fee basis, meaning clients are not responsible for attorneys’ fees or litigation expenses. Any request for attorneys’ fees and expenses will be subject to court approval.

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Tel: 215-792-6676

EMAIL

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