Harrisburg Fair Labor Standards Act Lawyer (FLSA)
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and youth employment standards affecting employees. Covered employees are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009 and overtime pay of not less than one and one half times the regular rate of pay after forty hours of work in a work week for “non-exempt” employees. The Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (Minimum Wage Act) is a companion state law, that provides additional requirements not covered under the FLSA. The Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law provides additional remedies against Employers that do not pay wages or fail to pay them in a timely manner. It further prohibits an Employer from deducting monies from an Employee’s paycheck without the employee’s written authorization or court order. Contact our Harrisburg FLSA employment lawyers for more information.
Not all workers are entitled to overtime. In order to be entitled to overtime a worker must be considered “non-exempt” under the FLSA or an “employee” under the Minimum Wage Act. Generally, under these laws, a worker is an employee, and thereby entitled to overtime, if the person for whom he or she works has the right to direct and control him or her in the way he or she works, both as to the final results and as to the details of when, where and how the work is to be done. The FLSA and the Minimum Wage Act, however, have specific requirements as to what jobs and what job duties would entitle a worker to overtime so it is important to discuss your job duties with a lawyer if you believe you may be entitled to overtime.
Another common area of overtime litigation involves “donning and doffing” and other activities at the beginning and end of a shift. If for example an employee is required to wear specialized gear in the performance of the principal activity of their job, the time spent “donning and doffing” that specialized gear may be compensated. Also, if a worker is required to travel as part of their job or be “on-call” that time may also be compensated.