Lawsuits Over Wage & Hour Violations Grow in U.S.

You do your job, you get paid. This is not supposed to be a complicated process. And yet, despite this, lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations have increased by 400% since financial year 2000.

What is a Wage And Hour Violation?

Wage and hour violations are situations where an employer fails to pay employees properly. Most often, this takes the form of failing to pay for overtime. This problem often requires federal intervention, and is such a huge problem that the United States Department of Labor has established the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to address these issues. This agency enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the law that ensures employers pay their employees.

The rules are well spelled out for employers and well known, as the law was enacted the better part of a century ago. And yet major retailers, restaurants, and health care providers have been caught breaking these laws.

As the economy declined, employers had to find ways to get the same amount of work with less capital. This led to layoffs, and smaller work forces. Employers had to find ways of getting just as much done with fewer employees. Allegedly, this mentality may have led to employers cutting corners. In some cases, employees may have been denied pay that was rightfully theirs.

Some employers have allegedly employed techniques like falsely classifying employees as overtime exempt, or forcing them to work off the clock to avoid overtime, or even regular, pay. One unpaid overtime lawsuit alleges that a major company required employees to record only the first eight hours they worked and not all of the hours they actually worked. In this case, managers allegedly altered timesheets to say that employees did not work overtime. According to the lawsuit, managers told employees that they were exempt from overtime from overtime and not allowed to record it.

Employment Lawsuits Seek Back Pay

Employees have a right to the money they have earned. Many have filed wage and hour lawsuits to get back the money that is rightfully theirs. These lawsuits allege that major corporations, including some big names like AutoZone, Pep Boys, Netflix, Ruby Tuesdays, U.S. Airways, and Guitar Center have engaged in these practices.

In some of these cases, employers have been forced to pay millions in settlements, much more than if they had simply paid their employees in the first place.

These wage lawsuits allege that employers did not pay employees money they earned. The lawsuits seek unpaid overtime wages, straight wages, and penalties for violating both federal and state laws pertaining to pay.

If you have faced the issue of a wage and hours violation, you may feel helpless, and unsure of where to turn. However, you do have rights, and there are steps you can take to improve your situation. You can start by visiting the Wage & Hour, Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit Investigation. Here, you can submit your information for a free review by an employment lawyer who specializes in this type of lawsuit. From here, you can receive guidance on the next steps to take.