Houston Overtime Wage Attorney

Overtime Wage Loss

Most of us go to work each day to provide for our families. We deserve fair wages. Both the federal and state governments recognize the importance of wages and have enacted many laws designed to protect your interest in receiving fair pay for your work. An experienced law firm, such as Pulaski & Middleman, can help you take advantage of the protections offered by those laws.

If you have been denied overtime wages by your employer, contact us for a free initial consultation and case evaluation. We have been helping workers receive financial compensation for their employers' violation of wage and hour laws for nearly 20 years.

Fair Labor Standards Act and State Wage-Hour Laws

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay minimum wage and overtime. Employees are due overtime pay for working more than 40 hours per week in most situations.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that all nonexempt employees be paid at least the minimum wage for all hours worked. The FLSA also provides that nonexempt employees who work more than 40 hours in the workweek must receive at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for the overtime hours (hours worked over 40 in a workweek). A workweek, which can begin on any day of the week, is 7 consecutive 24-hour periods or 168 consecutive hours.

We handle claims for individuals, small groups and class actions. Lead (named) plaintiffs in class actions are often entitled to additional compensation, which, in some cases, can be substantial.

Hourly Employees

Employers frequently violate the FLSA and state wage/hour laws. Employees that are covered under FLSA and relevant state laws are entitled to compensation for all time worked and one and a half times their ordinary rate for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. For example, an employee who is normally paid $10 per hour is entitled to $15 per hour for all time worked in excess of 40 hours in a week. The employer is responsible to properly compensate employees for all time worked by the employee, including overtime, even if the employer did not know that the employee was working overtime.

Employers often try to avoid paying overtime in the following ways:

• Having employees work "off the clock";
• denying employees overtime pay when the overtime is not approved by management;
• paying employees their regular rate for overtime work;
• carrying over one week's overtime hours into another week;
• using a timekeeping method that automatically "clocks out" employees either for lunch periods or at the end of a time period, regardless of whether the employees continue working for the clocked-out time;
• requiring employees to arrive early to perform necessary preparations for work, including putting on or removing protective gear; and
• altering employees' time sheets.

Salaried employees misclassified as exempt

An employee is not exempt from overtime payment simply because she is paid the same salary every week, as opposed to by the hour. The most common FLSA exemptions for salaried employees apply primarily to professionals, such as doctors or lawyers, or high-level employees who have a considerable amount of discretion in conducting their affairs. Employees who are not exempt under FLSA or relevant state laws are entitled to be paid for all time worked in excess of 40 hours per week, regardless of their salaried status. Employers frequently violate FLSA by failing to pay overtime to salaried employees that the employer misclassifies as exempt. If your employer misclassified you as exempt, our attorneys can help you.

Call Us

Pulaski & Middleman fights for your rights. We help our clients obtain the unpaid wages owed to them. We are easily accessible and work on a contingency basis to help the clients in their pursuits of fair pay for their hours worked.

If you think that your rights to overtime pay have been violated, contact us at toll free (800) 223-3784. We handle cases nationwide!