FLSA Category Archives — Page 7 of 13 — Atlanta Employment Attorneys Blog Published by Atlanta, Georgia Employment Lawyers

The Limits of Arbitration Agreements in Minimum Wage and Unpaid Overtime Cases in Georgia

September 23, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In many fields of employment, an employer may seek to obtain its employees’ signatures or agreements in which those workers sign away their right to sue in court for certain claims, such as unpaid overtime or minimum wage disputes. In place of a trial in court is a hearing before an arbitrator or arbitration panel. Employers insist on these agreements because, often, proceeding in arbitration as opposed to litigation works to the employer’s benefit and to the employee’s detriment. That’s why you should proceed with substantial care before such a waiver of your rights and, if you have questions or concerns, get in touch with a knowledgeable Atlanta minimum wage lawyer.

Not only can an agreement place you in the position of contesting your underlying claims before an arbitrator, but even the arguments you raise about the enforceability of the arbitration agreement itself may also have to be contested in that same arbitration setting.

That was the bad news for some workers who sued in federal court in New York alleging they were illegally underpaid. The plaintiffs were workers at various locations of a center that spread the teachings of Kabbalah. These were workers who, when they joined the center, signed vows of poverty. They received “cash allowances or monthly stipends,” housing, food, and clothing. They received no other compensation for their work.

When Your Work in Georgia May Be ‘Agriculture’ for Purposes of Your H-2A Visa, But Not ‘Agriculture’ for Purposes of the FLSA

August 24, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, agribusiness represents the state’s leading industry, checking in with $74 billion in annual economic impact. That means that a lot of workers in this state are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor and Standards Act, based on that law’s agriculture exception. One group to whom that exception does not apply, however, are workers who may work at agribusiness sites but who are not employed in agricultural work. If you’ve been denied overtime or other appropriate compensation due to a misapplication of the FLSA’s agriculture exception, then you should retain an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer to get started pursuing what you’re owed.

While not from here in Georgia, a recent federal unpaid overtime case is a good example of what we mean. The plaintiff in the lawsuit, José, worked for a Texas-based construction firm that built structures for commercial, industrial, and agricultural clients. José’s job called for him to build “livestock confinement facilities.”

José allegedly worked more than 40 hours per week “regularly,” but his employer paid him no overtime compensation, so he sued under the FLSA.

Working for Food? What the Law Says About Non-Traditional Methods of Compensating Workers

July 29, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

There are lots of reasons an employer might want to pay a worker or former employee in an unconventional way. It might be a marketing promotion, it might be an attempt to embrace cutting-edge currencies, or it might be a passive-aggressive expression of hostility. Whatever the reason, workers and employers alike should recognize that when work is compensated in anything other than cash, electronic payment (like a direct deposit,) or a negotiable instrument (like a check,) that compensation method has the potential to run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act. A knowledgeable Atlanta wage and hour lawyer can help you, as a worker, determine if the compensation you received complies with the law or not.

Some months ago, this blog covered a disgruntled Georgia employer who caught the attention of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the non-traditional way it paid a fired worker’s final wages. The $915 payment arrived in the worker’s driveway, in the form of a wheelbarrow full of 572 pounds of “oil-soaked” pennies. That, plus a final pay stub with an expletive written on it, amounted to illegal retaliation, according to the EEOC.

More recently, news outlets focused on an unusual work arrangement at a fast food establishment in North Carolina. A Chick Fil A restaurant there posted to its Facebook page that it sought “volunteers” to work at its new “Drive Thru Express.” The so-called volunteers would receive “5 free entrees” for each one-hour shift they worked.

The Importance of Rules Compliance in Your Federal FLSA Lawsuit, and What to Do When Your Employer Doesn’t Follow the Rules

July 22, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In 2014, a children’s author released her new book for 4-7 year-olds, entitled I Can Follow the Rules. The benefit of following the rules is a lesson taught from a young age. Failure to follow the rules has its own set of potential consequences. That’s true whether you’re a student in pre-K or a litigant in federal court. This is a huge reason why it pays to have a knowledgeable Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer on your side: both to ensure you’re in compliance and to utilize your opposition’s failure to satisfy the rules to your maximum benefit.

You can see what we mean in a recent federal case regarding an allegation of unpaid overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The worker, V.C., had held a sales professional role for an Alpharetta hair restoration clinic until mid-November 2019 when the clinic fired her.

After that termination, the saleswoman sued the clinic and its CEO for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, alleging that the employer improperly withheld commissions and failed to pay her overtime compensation that she’d earned.

A North Georgia Insurance Agency Owes $50K After Firing an Employee for ‘Inquiring About Pay’

July 8, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Employees should be free to assert their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act, including asking questions about their employers’ pay practices. Unfortunately, too often, asserting those rights comes with a job-related price, up to and including losing one’s job. When that happens, that may represent illegal retaliation, which is itself a violation of the FLSA. Whether yours is a minimum wage case, an unpaid overtime case, a retaliation case, or a combination of the above, an experienced Atlanta employment retaliation lawyer can help you select the best ways to take action.

It’s unclear if a Stone Mountain insurance agency’s insureds always get the “good neighbor” treatment but, according to the U.S. Labor Department, one employee did not, and it’s going to cost the employer.

A federal court recently ordered the insurance agency to pay $50,000 for engaging in retaliation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, a worker at the agency “requested information about compensation.” The worker didn’t get answers to their questions; instead, the worker received a letter of termination, according to a press release from the Labor Department.

Overcoming an Exempt Employee Classification When Your Duties Really Indicate Non-Exempt Status

June 30, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Many employers derive substantial economic benefits from classifying workers as independent contractors. The classification means those are not entitled to receive overtime pay, a minimum wage, or additional benefits (like health insurance) that the employer provides only to employees. Due to these economic realities, many employers will classify workers as independent contractors when the nature of their work actually indicates they are employees. If you believe your employer has wrongfully classified you as an independent contractor, you may be entitled to recover compensation in a Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit. A knowledgeable Atlanta employee misclassification lawyer can tell you more about your options.

Even if your employer classified you as an employee, you may still have been harmed by misclassification. Employers may misclassify non-exempt employees as exempt, as the latter classification means that those workers are not owed time-and-a-half overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The exemption categories are professional, administrative, executive, outside sales, and computer-related.

P.F. and J.S. were a pair of property damage investigators who alleged in an FLSA lawsuit that they were among that latter category — non-exempt employees misclassified as exempt.

The U.S. Labor Department Has Investigated Another Georgia Tire and Auto Service Business, This Time Collecting $161K in Back Owed Wages

June 16, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Employers in the auto services industry improperly paying their workers in ways that do not comply with federal minimum wage and/or overtime laws is not uncommon. In fiscal year 2021 alone, The U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division performed more than 500 investigations of employers in the auto services industry. In total, the Labor Department found that more than 3,500 workers had been illegally shortchanged. The division recovered more than $4 million in back wages. If you think your employer has illegally miscalculated your overtime rate, your compensable hours, or otherwise violated the law, it is well worth your while to contact an experienced Atlanta minimum wage and unpaid overtime lawyer.

Most recently, the Wage and Hour Division launched an investigation into a tire and auto service shop in Canton. At the investigation’s end, the Labor Department concluded that the shop had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by improperly underpaying 19 workers a total of more than $161,000.

One violation related to withheld paychecks. For some of the workers, the employer did not pay them anything during their first pay period. The employers say the held-back paychecks were a uniform deposit. The Labor Department said it was an FLSA violation.

When Your On-Call Hours Are Compensable (Including Overtime Pay) Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

May 24, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Every winning case begins with several essential ingredients. One of those is a well-written complaint filed in the correct court. If you are someone who believes that your employer has denied you the overtime pay you were legally owed, then you should get in touch with an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer, who can take the steps necessary to ensure that you have the well-written complaint and the powerful evidence you need for success.

That’s especially true if your case involves some unique facts. In some job settings, the total number of hours you worked can be fairly black-and-white. Other times it’s not, like when you’re a worker whose job mandated a certain number of “on-call” hours?

That was the circumstance for several employees of a pathology service entity in Gwinnett County. The workers put in an 8am-4pm schedule weekdays in an office in Lawrenceville. In addition, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that they had “on-call” hours, which were “from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. two or three nights a week and all weekend twice a month,” according to the workers’ lawsuit.

The Importance of Getting a Release Agreement — and Getting the RIGHT One — When Settling Your FLSA Case in Georgia

May 17, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

You’ve finally done it. With the help of your skillful Atlanta minimum wage and unpaid overtime lawyer, you’ve successfully negotiated the terms of a settlement that’s agreeable to both sides. The defense gets to stop litigating and you get compensated. So, getting your check and dismissing your case are all that’s left, right?

Actually, no. There is another part of the settlement process upon which the defense will almost inevitably insist (and you should, too.) That’s the “release agreement.” The release agreement is a contract that says that in exchange for the defense making payment and you dismissing your case, there are certain things each side agrees to do and/or not do. This agreement might seem like a mere formality, but it’s actually very important. You need to ensure that the agreement you sign does not contain overly broad or imprecise language that potentially inhibits your ability to seek compensation for other non-FLSA-related transgressions in which your employer may have engaged.

As an example, there’s this Fair Labor Standards Act case from south Georgia. The employer was a property cleanup and restoration business in Brunswick, and the plaintiffs were two of its employees. (The specifics of the alleged violations weren’t relevant to the court’s ruling, so the judge did not discuss them.)

What Happens When an Employer Willfully Misclassifies a Worker as an Independent Contractor Instead of an Employee

April 22, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Regrettably, employee misclassifications occur all too frequently. Sometimes, they may be the result of good-faith errors. Other times, though, the employer knew (or should have known) that it was not following the law. When that happens, you can seek a finding in your unpaid overtime case that your employer willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, which can greatly enhance the compensation you can receive. If you think your employer willfully broke the law, you need an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer to help you get everything to which the law entitles you.

J.M. was one of those people. She worked for a company that provided “in-home healthcare and companion services.” According to her lawsuit, J.M. frequently worked more than 80 hours a week. However, she received only $1,500 per month for her work. The employer allegedly never paid J.M. any overtime for any of the hours she worked.

The employer did this by classifying J.M. as an independent contractor rather than an employee. J.M.’s lawsuit asserted that her independent contractor status was a misclassification, that the employer knew (or ought to have known) it was a misclassification, and that the employer willfully violated the FLSA.