With almost 150 million Americans actively in the workforce, knowing your rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act can be helpful and often necessary!  All employers cannot be trusted to know the federal wage and hour laws, nor to ethically apply them consistently and without exception.  The need for an employment attorney is far more frequent than you would suspect. 

The majority of working Americans are classified as non-exempt employees, which essentially means that the employee is not exempt from receiving overtime hours and pay.  A non-exempt employee is classified as such because of the type of duties performed, the level of their decision making authority, and the form/method of compensation for their position.  The FLSA has very specific provisions in place that govern the classifications of exempt and non-exempt employees.  Non-exempt employees must be compensated for all hours worked including overtime hours. 

One of the most commonly known protections afforded by the FLSA is the governing of employers and their application of overtime compensation as it relates to non-exempt employees.  Any employee that works more than 40 hours in a week must receive at least one and one–half times their regular pay rate for the overtime hours worked.  Therefore, it is important that you know and track your overtime hours on a weekly basis. Your employer undoubtedly will provide a method of accurately tracking your “work time” but this is not necessarily “always” the case.  Some employers are not cognizant of the importance of following employment laws and some employers, for whatever reason, may not intend to pay overtime wages that are rightfully earned.  This can create the need for an employment attorney if you have been denied your rightful overtime pay, but accurate records are extremely helpful to support and win a legal action! 

Another commonly known FSLA protection is the minimum wage requirement.  Covered non-exempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of $5.85 per hour.  This became effective in July of 2007.  Some state laws may have higher minimum wage requirements for employers, but only federal employment laws are addressed in this article.  The minimum wage rate will be increased to $6.55 per hour in July of 2008 and $7.25 effective July of 2009. This area is more difficult for employers to “abuse” as federal minimum wage laws are extremely “black and white” in their required application. 

Another employee protection afforded by the FLSA is that employees must be paid for all the hours they work in a workweek.  The definition of “compensable hours” includes all time that an employee is considered to be on duty or at their prescribed place of employment.  This employment law also covers work that is performed at a home residence, travel time, waiting time, and training time.  Again, it is important to keep track of your hours worked, including any overtime hours on a weekly basis.  Employers may often be unfamiliar with Wage and Hour employment law, or they choose to ignore it, when it relates to travel time or requiring employees to take work home and complete it “off the clock”.  Simply because the employee is not completing their work while at their place of employment at their desk or assigned station, this does not release an employer from having to pay for all compensable hours worked.  Again, employees that are performing work away from their actual employment location should keep detailed records if they are not being compensated for those hours.  An employment attorney may be necessary to secure your right to your regular and/or overtime wages!

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John M. Adams has worked as an attorney for the past 20 years. As a Seattle Employment Attorney he has helped many individuals successfully settle Wage and Hour employment claims and can also assist business owners in insuring they are compliant with federal labor laws. If you are in the need of a quality Seattle Attorney then you need not look any further.