San Antonio Overtime Lawyer

What Is Unpaid Overtime?

Unpaid overtime is a form of wage theft, which is illegal under federal and state employment laws. When an employee has unpaid overtime, they work more than 40 hours in a week, but their employer does not pay them overtime for the extra hours.

As an example, let’s imagine an oil field worker whose hourly rate is $20 an hour. That worker clocks 50 hours in one week. For the first 40 hours, that worker earns their regular rate of pay. For the next 10 hours, they should earn time and a half, or 1.5 times their hourly rate. Their rate of $20 an hour would rise to $30 for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

So, if their employer pays them for their overtime wages, they should earn $1,100. However, if their employer pays their regular hourly rate for their 10 hours of overtime, they would earn only $1,000. Legally, the worker is entitled to overtime pay for the 10 extra hours they worked.

Wage Theft, Unpaid Wages, and Overtime Compensation in San Antonio

As many Texas employment lawyers know, several other terms are commonly used when discussing unpaid overtime cases. When wage disputes arise, we often hear terms like wage theft, unpaid wages, and overtime compensation.

Wage theft refers to the situation in which an employer neglects to compensate their employees in accordance with federal or state regulations. There are many ways employers can engage in wage theft, including stealing tips, requiring off-the-clock work, violating minimum wage laws, and failing to pay overtime hours. If your employer failed to pay what you earned, contact the employment lawyers at Leichter Law.

Unpaid wages are earnings that you earned but that your employer fails to pay you. These cases can arise from many circumstances, including administrative errors, violating minimum wage laws, benefits disputes, miscategorization, and others.

Overtime compensation is “time and a half” of an employee’s regular hourly rate. So, if their hourly rate is $15, their overtime rate is $22.50. Once someone works a total of 40 hours in a week, any extra hours they work should be paid at the overtime rate. This applies to many types of employees in many industries, but not every employee is entitled to overtime pay.

What Industries Are Exempt from Overtime Pay in Texas?

According to federal labor laws, most employees can receive overtime pay. However, certain employees in certain industries are considered exempt from overtime compensation. In the following section, we outline exempt vs non-exempt employees in Texas.

Exempt vs Non-Exempt Employees

Exempt and non-exempt employees are very similar, with their main difference being overtime compensation. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) outlines the differences between exempt and non-exempt employees. For an employee to be exempt from overtime compensation, they must meet at least one of the following criteria.

• Administrative roles: They make at least $684 a week, perform office tasks, and have the ability to use their own judgment about business decisions.
• Computer roles: They make at least $684 a week or $27.63 an hour. Their job does not involve manual labor, and their main obligations involve computer tasks, program tasks, or systems analysis.
• Executive roles: They make at least $684 a week, manage the business, hire employees, fire employees, and use their own judgment to make business decisions.
• Outside sales roles: They work outside their place of business on a regular basis, getting contracts, orders, or sales for the business. Unlike other roles, minimum salaries do not apply for outside sales employees.
• Professional roles: They make at least $684 a week and have a role such as teaching, accounting, engineering, or creative professions.

It’s important to remember that just because an employee earns a salary, this does not automatically make them exempt from overtime pay. As long as an employee does not primarily perform exempt duties, they are entitled to overtime pay.

What Are the Federal Overtime Laws?

Broadly speaking, the origins of federal laws concerning overtime in the workplace can be traced back to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which was put into effect in 1938. This legislation aimed to improve working conditions for workers, set a federal minimum wage, institute rules for overtime compensation, oversee child labor practices, and define standards for employer recordkeeping.

Overtime Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

As mentioned before, the FLSA is a federal law that requires employers to pay overtime to non-exempt employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek. All hours worked over 40 in a workweek must be compensated at 1.5 times the regular pay rate. If your employer fails to pay what you are owed, the FLSA gives you the right to legally correct the issue.

Specifically, the FLSA includes sections for workers who want to file a claim for unpaid wages. In other words, you have the right to sue your employer for failure to pay the wages you earned. If someone is found to have violated wage laws in state or federal court, they must generally pay double the unpaid amount. They may also be required to pay your attorney fees and court costs.

What Are Common Ways Employers Violate Unpaid Overtime Laws?

If an employer intentionally shortchanges an employee, chances are that they are looking for opportunities to continue those illegal actions. In many cases, employers will lie or tamper with records to justify their underpayment. Some common examples of shady tactics include averaging hours, paying compensatory time, using an employee’s legal status against them, and claiming that an employee’s work was not considered “beneficial work time.”

What Workers Are Commonly Denied Overtime Pay?

Technically, any employer can deny any employee their earned overtime compensation. That being said, certain industries are notorious for wage disputes. Examples of positions commonly denied overtime pay include independent contractors, oil and gas workers, nurses and LVNs, tipped employees, janitorial workers, and call center employees.