Wage & Hour Lawsuits Reach Record High

Wage and hour law is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA was initially passed in 1938 to protect workers from unfair work requirements. The FLSA sets federal minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. While the federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour, many states have established different minimum wage laws. Because not all workplaces are subject to federal law, some states have set their minimum wage requirements below the federal minimum wage.

According to the FLSA, employees who work more than 40 hours in a week are entitled to overtime pay unless they are exempt employees. Overtime pay is equal to 1.5 times the employee’s hourly rate.

Independent contractors are typically exempt from overtime pay. However, many employers attempt to exploit this exemption by misclassifying employees as independent contractors.

Number of FLSA Claims Increased 10 Percent from Last Year

Although the U.S. economy is improving, employers are still taking cost-saving measures to increase their bottom lines. Unfortunately, employees often take the brunt of these cutbacks. These cutbacks have taken place in virtually every industry, including retail, health care, financial and restaurant industries.

The number of federal FLSA lawsuits has continued to increase in 2013. In the past year, there have been more than 7,700 wage and hour cases filed, a 10 percent increase from last year. The most common FLSA violations include:

• Unpaid overtime claims
• Time spent working while “off the clock”
• Minimum wage violations
• Tip pooling
• Misclassification

When an employer does not pay a non-exempt employee for all of the time the employee has worked, the employer is in violation of the FLSA and will be responsible to pay the employee any back pay that is owed. In the most egregious violations, employees could be entitled to receive thousands of dollars.

FLSA Class Action Lawsuits Have Resulted in Significant Settlements

Many employees have put their foot down and contacted wage and hour lawyers to help them recover the pay that they were legally entitled to receive. In many cases, plaintiffs file class action lawsuits against companies. These FLSA class action lawsuits have been very successful and have resulted in settlements of millions of dollars.

In 2012, class action lawsuits against the following companies resulted in significant settlement amounts:

• Bank of America / Merrill Lynch
• H&R Block Enterprises Inc.
• Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.
• Prudential Insurance Co. of America
• Rite Aid

Each of these cases was settled for more than $1 million. Most of these cases settled for tens of millions of dollars.

Find Out if You Qualify to Join an FLSA Class Action Lawsuit

If your employer violated the FLSA, you may be entitled to back pay. Visit our Wage & Hour, Unpaid Overtime Class Action Lawsuit Investigation page to learn more about your legal rights. When you submit information about your experience, an FLSA lawyer will conduct a free case evaluation to determine if you qualify to join a class action lawsuit. If your employer was in violation of the FLSA, you could be entitled to substantial compensation.