Unpaid Overtime

What Happens if My Employer Takes an Automatic Pay Deduction for Meal Breaks But I Did Not Actually Get My Break?

January 24, 2023 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In wage and hour law, as with any area of the law, there are issues that arise with elevated frequency at certain moments in time. (For example, a few years ago the courts saw a flurry of employee-versus-independent-contractor misclassification cases involving exotic dancers.) More recently, an issue before multiple different courts involves employers taking automatic meal-break deductions, regardless of whether the workers got their full break (or any break at all) or not. When this happens, it may constitute a Fair Labor Standards Act violation for which you may be entitled to compensation. An experienced Atlanta wage-and-hour lawyer can tell you more about whether your situation represents a violation of the law.

One of the most recent incidents occurred to our north, where Ohio workers initiated a class action against their employer, a medical company that owns hospitals, rehab centers, and clinics. According to the workers, the employer had a practice of automatically deducting 1/2 hour from their hours to account for each worker’s meal break. The alleged problem was, however, that the realities of the workplace (especially during periods of understaffing) meant that workers often had to work through lunch or were able only to take abbreviated meal breaks. Even when those circumstances arose, the employer still took the automatic 30-minute deduction, according to the complaint.

On that basis, the workers alleged that the employer violated the FLSA by failing to pay overtime wages the workers earned. The class that the workers proposed was an expansive one; namely, “all current and former hourly, non-exempt direct care employees of defendant who had a meal break deduction applied to their hours worked in any workweek where they were paid for at least forty (40) hours of work.”

Company Holiday Parties in Georgia and How They Can Run Afoul of Sexual Harassment or Wage and Hour Laws

December 16, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Employers celebrating the holidays with company-wide parties are increasing in numbers. While not at 2019 levels, research shows that, in 2022, more than half are having in-person events. With office holiday parties returning, so too are the legal risks that run concurrently with them. Whether you’re an employer or an employee, it is important to acknowledge that the company holiday party can violate the law in more ways than you might have considered. For employers, a skilled Atlanta employment lawyer can help you keep your party legally compliant. For employees harmed as a result of these kinds of violations, the right legal counsel can be invaluable in protecting your legal options related to those violations.

The Chicago-based firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas conducts an annual survey of employers regarding holiday parties. The firm’s 2022 survey revealed a massive uptick in in-person events, rising from 27% in 2021 to 57% this year. While not at 2019’s high (75%,) the 2022 number approaches where employers were in 2018 (65%.)

Holidays carry a unique set of risks for employers and employees alike. Especially in recent years, employers and employees alike have become more aware of the risks of sexual harassment at company holiday parties, especially when those events also involve the availability of alcoholic beverages.

The U.S. Department of Labor Just Announced a New Proposed Rule for Independent Contractor Classifications: What it May Mean for You

October 17, 2022 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

For many workers in this so-called “gig” economy, one of the biggest issues they (and the entity that retains their services) must confront is whether that worker is an independent contractor (who is not covered by many of the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act) or an employee (who, unless exempt, generally is covered by the law.) Often, these classifications are inappropriate and the worker in question, based on the nature of his/her job, qualifies as an employee, not an independent contractor. When that happens, you may have a claim for compensation wrongfully denied to you, meaning you should get in touch with a knowledgeable Atlanta worker misclassification lawyer right away to discuss your circumstances.

A new proposed rule that the U.S. Department of Labor announced earlier this month could make it harder for employers to classify workers as independent contractors. The new rule seeks to limit independent contractor status only to those workers who, “as a matter of economic reality, are not economically dependent on their employer for work and are in business for themselves,” according to the Labor Department.

The existing rule has five “economic realities” to guide the classification of workers as independent contractors versus employees. The rule split those five into two “core factors,” which were the nature and degree of the hiring entity’s control over the work and the worker’s “opportunity for profit or loss,” and three lesser factors, which were the degree of skill the work required, the extent to which the hiring entity-worker relationship was or was not a permanent one, and whether the worker’s work was part of an integrated unit of production.

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.

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.

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.

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.