Overtime & Minimum Wage Cases

Overtime and Minimum Wage Litigation

The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the Missouri Minimum Wage Law (“MMWL”) require covered employers to pay their employees overtime compensation for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than one and one-half times their regular rate of pay. You may have a case and be entitled to compensation if your employer fails or refuses to pay overtime in these situations:

  • Having employees work “off-the-clock” to avoid paying overtime;
  • Misclassifying employees as independent contractors or salaried to avoid paying overtime- not all salaried workers qualify under the law as “salaried” and many non-managerial salaried employees may be entitled to overtime despite being on salary (of course, there are hundreds of possible industry specific categories who would not be covered). In addition, some independent contractors are legally employees;
  • Improper overtime calculation methods that underpay overtime compensation;
  • Failure to pay compensable time (training time; travel time; break time where the employee is still forced to work);
  • Private employers paying wages with goods or services instead of money- if you work at a restaurant and get a “free” meal to keep you from reaching the 40 hour workweek.

In addition, employees are generally entitled to a minimum wage of $7.35 per hour ($7.50 after January 2014). If an employee is forced to work for less than $7.35 per hour in a workweek, there may be a claim for failure to pay a minimum wage. If you work for tips, your employer must pay at least half of the minimum wage and if your tip rate doesn’t bring your wage up to the minimum, the employer must make up the difference. This protects workers from “slow” days.

Our office works to represent employees in wage disputes, including collective actions and class actions. Under the FLSA, a successful employee can recover unpaid wages, along with liquidated damages which double the amount left unpaid.

If you are not being paid for all of the time you work and/or not being paid time and one-half for the hours you work in excess of a 40 hour work week, you may be entitled to back pay and other compensation.