Basics in Overtime Claims

In Los Angeles, there are a number of overtime claims which are filed by employees who failed to receive proper compensation for the extra amount of hours that they exerted working.

Legal help from attorneys can be acquired by employees who were not given their overtime pay because employers are required by law to provide it to their employees if the latter exceeds their specified number of working hours.

Overtime is a work performed by an hourly employee that goes beyond the required work hours in a week. Any work that is performed by an hourly worker that went beyond 40 hours in a week is considered overtime.

Overtime Pay Under Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Under FLSA of 1938, an employee who exceeded the required 40 hours weekly should be paid by his/her employer a 150% of his/her salary for the number of hours that exceeded the weekly hours.

Different state and federal laws govern overtime and wage claims. Most states provide employees wider overtime protection, compared to what is provided by FLSA.

Here are some of the additional rules pertaining to overtime:

• An employee may not have the right to receive overtime pay if the company has no idea that he/she is working overtime and has made a posted policy or rule that prohibits overtime work.

• An employee may be entitled to receive overtime compensation if he/she requested to take part in a program which is sponsored by the company.

• In general, an employee cannot be forced to wave his/her right to overtime.

• In general, an employee cannot decline to work overtime if he/she does not have a legitimate reason. If an employee refused to work overtime due to an invalid reason and his/her employer suffers from undue hardship because of it, this may be considered as a valid ground for denial of employment or termination.

• An employee who purposely over-reports his/her overtime hours is not protected by the FLSA. The employee may be terminated if he/she falsified overtime hours and she/ may not be entitled to file claims concerning unfair treatment or retaliation.

Filing Overtime Claims

Complaints of employees concerning overtime pay should be filed during the period of one year after they failed to receive proper compensation for their overtime work. The different steps in filing overtime claims are:

• Type or print the needed application form

• Answer the different questions that are included in the form

• Specify if you want your employer to know your name, as the claimant

• Submit two copies of documents which will support your claim and the copy of your records

• If you changed your address, notify the Department of Labor

• Mail the application to the given address