Attorney, Jon Street, was recently interviewed about a new Supreme Court case. The case will have an impact on overtime cases throughout the country.
In Tennessee and across the United States when an employee works more than forty hours in one week, by law, they are entitled to receive overtime. However, overtime complaints and lawsuits are becoming one of the biggest problems between employees and their employers while at the workplace. Now, there is an iphone application put into place by the U.S. Department of Labor that could help workers resolve their overtime pay problems with their employers. If you have questions about how this new application may affect your case or if you are a worker who has not received overtime pay, then you should speak with a Tennessee employment overtime lawyer right away. They will answer any questions you may have and work with you to get the compensation you deserve.
This iphone application which is being offered in both English and Spanish will let employees add comments then e-mail a summary of these comments to their employer and to themselves. This will help empower employees to understand and stand up for their rights when their employers may deny them overtime pay. This application will not only be useful for employees but their employers and businesses as well. It is estimated that 220,000 employees collect back wages or other unpaid overtime per year when the Labor Department hears about the case.
When employees use this application, they will have to keep in mind that there may be some problems that they will need to discuss with their employers right away. Employees should also keep in mind that employers are allowed by the Fair Labor Standards Act to round to the nearest fifteen minutes and some employees may not be aware of this. This application may help employers to keep better records of the hours that are worked by their employees since they will be aware of the fact that the employee is keeping track.
It is recommended that if you do use this application to keep track of your hours that employees do so every week. It is also important to make sure that employees understand their company or business policy about working beyond the normal hours.
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Tennessee employees and employees all across the United States work hard for their money and deserve to be paid for the hours the work. If an employee works more than forty hours in one week, then they are also entitled to receive time and half for each hour over forty or overtime pay. However, many companies and businesses find ways around this law or just fail to pay their employees any overtime pay at all. If you or someone you care about has worked overtime but have not received your overtime pay, then you should speak with a Tennessee employment overtime lawyer as soon as possible. They will work with you and make sure you receive compensations for the hours you have worked.
In this case, employees of the company that provides janitorial services to JC Penny stores, claim that the cleaning company “regularly required” them to work over forty hours in a week but failed to pay them overtime and for all the hours that they worked. The employees argue in court papers that the cleaning company often failed to credit or pay them for all their hours from 2003 to 2008, in one hundred and fifty-seven locations where the company provides services. More than one hundred employees are part of the class action lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, the cleaning company is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
This case is proceeding to federal court and the amount of unpaid wages will be determined by the court. The lawsuit is also seeking damages equal to unpaid wages, plus interest, attorney fees and other costs.
Many people these days are struggling to make ends meet and are working all the hours they can to have enough money to provide for their loved ones. Unfortunately, in Tennessee and in many places all over the country, many companies and business do not pay their employees the overtime pay they deserve by law. They either find ways to avoid it such as making them clock out early or wait to clock in, or they just do not pay them overtime at all. If you work hard for the money you get, then you deserve your overtime pay. If you are not getting it, then you should talk to a Tennessee employment overtime lawyer right away. They will work with you and make sure you receive the compensation you deserve for the hours you work.
In this case, employees at a hospital claim that two health systems denied them overtime pay because they used a fourteen day, eighty hour pay period which was found to be in violation of states Minimum Wage Act. The lawsuit also contends that the employees were entitled overtime pay any time they worked more than forty hours in a seven day period of time.
The seven hundred employees of the hospital will receive between $50 and $5,300 after winning a settlement regarding their overtime pay. About $400,000 of the $2.75 million settlement will be paid by one of the two health systems. This settlement shows that hospitals are not exempt from the requirement that overtime pay should be calculated based on a seven day work week. The actual amount each employee will receive will depend upon individual circumstances, but the average is around $489.
Continue reading "Hospital Employees win in Overtime Lawsuit" »
In Tennessee and across the country, employees that work more than forty hours in one week are entitled to overtime pay for each hour over the forty hours. However, many companies and businesses find ways around these laws or just fail to pay their workers overtime altogether. When this happens, employees are entitled to complain about not being paid properly for overtime. However, until recently it was unclear whether or not an employee complaining orally about overtime pay was protected against retaliation from an employer. If you are a Tennessee worker who feels that you were not paid the overtime you deserve or have questions about how this new ruling may affect your overtime lawsuit, then you should speak to a Tennessee employment overtime pay lawyer right away. They will hear your case and make sure you get the compensation you deserve.
In this case, Kevin Kasten worked as an hourly employee for the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation. He complained to his company, Saint Gobain, about how the time clocks were placed in an area which prevented employees from receiving credit for job related activities such as putting on and taking off of work clothes. After winning a lawsuit related to not being compensated for time spent dressing and undressing for work, Kasten filed another lawsuit which claimed that he had been terminated for complaining about the location of the company’s time clocks. This was Kasten’s second anti-retaliation lawsuit under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay certain employers a minimum wage and one and a half times the rate of pay for any hours worked over forty in one work week. This act also does not allow an employer “to discharge” an employee because they filed a complaint that is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. When this case went before the Supreme Court the issue was whether or not Kasten’s oral complaints were “filed” within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act anti-retaliation terms.
The Supreme Court in their ruling focused on the fact that the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed during the Great Depression when workers needed to be protected against poor working conditions and unfair treatment by their employers. The Supreme Court stated that during that time, workers who could not read or write could not make an effective written complaint and concluded that the Fair Labor Standards Act was intended to protect all complaints, both written and oral. The Court ruled that oral and written complaints are protected by the anti-retaliation terms of the act and an employer is not allowed to terminate an employee for making an oral complaint.
