Overtime Wages

Every day, workers are deprived of their proper overtime pay. Some workers do not realize that they are owed time-and-a-half for overtime work. Some know that they are entitled to overtime wages, but believe they can’t do anything about it. Experienced employment lawyers can help workers take on their employer and work to obtain the overtime pay you and your co-workers are entitled to.

The law behind the 40 work week was created during the great depression of the 1930’s and was intended to encourage employers to hire more workers. So, employers were penalized for making their employees work more than a normal work week in order to reduce unemployment. Overtime pay laws are not well-understood. Overtime pay is a right, not a privilege, and any company that does not pay overtime in full is breaking the law. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that outlines a method of ensuring that workers are fairly compensated for working long hours. The FSLA spells out the overtime pay laws and applies to every business in the United States regardless of the number of employees.

Non-Exempt Employees must receive one-and-a half times their normal pay for any overtime work. This includes people in retail, factory workers, all hourly workers and many salaried employees. Exempt Employees (like managers and professionals) do not receive extra pay for working overtime. Many jobs classified as professional, administrative, or executive are exempt — but many salaried employees are entitled to overtime pay and do not know it. Sometimes employers tell them they are exempt when they are actually not. The laws are complex. We have prepared several papers to help explain some of the different applications of the overtime laws.

• Common Employer Mistakes
• Frequently Asked Overtime Questions

Few Chicago attorneys are better qualified to handle overtime pay disputes than our firm's partner, George Bellas. His work has set a precedent in FLSA law and he have more than 20 years of experience in complex, large-scale litigation and employment law issues.

Many employers attempt to avoid the overtime laws by classifying employees as independent contractors. However, recent case law shows a trend that favors employees who assert that they were misclassified as independent contractors. One case in particular, Craig v. FedEx Ground Package Systems, 686 F.3rd 423 (7th Cir. 2012), ruled that the 15,000 Fed Ex drivers may have been misclassified as independent contractors, and this could have some serious economic ramifications to both Fed Ex and the employees who may have been misclassified as independent contractors.

At Bellas & Wachowski Attorneys at Law, our employment law attorneys are well-known for their tremendous trial experience, and have a proven ability to take any opponent. Contact us to set up a free, no obligation consultation.

Please contact us for a consultation if you have any suspicion at all that your employer is not compensating you properly for overtime. Our lawyers return all correspondence quickly and remain available to clients.