Contact Michigan Employment Lawyers with Questions Regarding Overtime, Minimum Wage and Pay Practices
Both employees and employers often face legal quandaries regarding wage and hour issues including overtime, minimum wage and pay practices. Schwartz Law Firm represents both employees and employers and therefore can fully inform each client not only about the law but also about what to expect from the other side if an overtime claim or other wage and hour dispute goes to mediation or trial.
Contact a lawyer at the Farmington Hills law offices of Schwartz Law Firm to discuss concerns regarding overtime claims, minimum wage or pay practices — whether you are an employer seeking to prevent or defend disputes or an employee seeking compensation.
Employee Benefits: Overtime
Overtime is greatly misunderstood in many cases — and has much to do with the way an employee is classified. If a worker is salaried — as opposed to being paid by the hour — employers often believe that he or she will not be entitled to overtime. But in fact, the job description matters more — and should clarify whether the worker is "exempt" or "non-exempt" rather than relying on the method used to pay wages or job titles.
Exempt workers generally include outside sales people, executives, some computer related IT workers, some administrative employees and professionals, depending on their actual job duties. Of course, union employees may have different rules when it comes to overtime.
Overtime is determined by how many hours are really worked in a 7-day period, regardless of how pay periods fall. A non-exempt worker who puts in more than 40 hours a week is entitled to overtime, and overtime must be paid within the pay period that it is worked. An employment attorney can advise on how to proceed with an overtime claim.
Disputes can also arise in the calculation of an employee's wage, especially for employees paid below the minimum wage because they customarily receive tips on the job. Other disputes can arise over an employer's pay practices.
Pay practices that sometimes figure into disputes over wages include questions of whether breaks must be paid, what employers can withhold from a payment, what employers have to pay out after terminating an employee, or whether they can force a worker to use direct deposit with a particular bank. Such questions can often be resolved economically and in a timely manner through knowledgeable legal counsel. In the event that disputes cannot be settled, talk to an attorney to determine how best to proceed.
Contact us at the Detroit area law offices of Schwartz Law Firm to learn what your rights and responsibilities are, as employee or employer, and about whether you are justified in suing for damages. We handle overtime claims and other wage and hour issues.
