Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal law that governs employment law, companies are required to pay 150 percent of an employee’s normal hourly wage for all overtime hours worked. Generally speaking, the time that an hourly employee spends working over 40 hours in a week is considered overtime. 

For example, if an employee works 46 hours in a given workweek, the company will owe the employee his or her normal pay plus six hours of overtime pay. Overtime work includes work performed “off the clock," which includes any unauthorized work you may perform. It also includes work performed before or after you clock in. Overtime is defined by the FLSA as “work not requested but suffered or permitted.”

Management generally may not refuse to pay overtime just because the work was not authorized. Companies are required to pay for all overtime hours that they knew or should have known were being worked.

Whether you have worked on a weekend is irrelevant. A workweek is defined as 40 hours in seven consecutive 24-hour periods totaling 168 hours. This holds true whether the workweek runs from Monday through Friday or not.

Not all companies must comply with FLSA overtime labor law. Exempt employers include any company that does less than $500,000 of business a year or has two or fewer employees. 

Not all employees are entitled to overtime pay under the FLSA. These exemptions include:

• Executive employees
• Administrative employees
• Certain types of seasonal employees
• Certain types of recreational employees
• Certain types of sales employees on commission 
• Salaried professional employees

It is important to understand that if a salaried employee is paid less than $455 per workweek, he or she may be eligible for overtime pay for hours worked beyond the standard 40-hour workweek.

Texas Independent Contract Overtime Rights

Employers may attempt to misclassify employees as independent contractors in an attempt to not pay workers the overtime wages or other employee benefits they deserve. If someone you work for has a certain amount of control over the work, then you as a “contractor” may in fact qualify as an employee. In this case, the employee can then receive coverage under Texas overtime pay laws. If you are a contractor who believes you may be owed overtime payment, our lawyer can help you.

Employees in Texas who have been denied overtime pay that they have lawfully earned may be entitled to “liquidated damages." This means the employee is entitled to collect double the amount of unpaid wages. Furthermore, if you win your claim, you may also be entitled to court costs and attorneys’ fees.

When there is a conflict between the federal law under the FLSA and state law, the law that applies is the law that is most favorable to the employee. Our lawyer who can help to make certain that you are paid what you have rightfully earned. While many firms handle a wide variety of practice areas, Mr. Atkerson focuses on employment law issues such as unpaid wages and wrongful termination.

If you suspect your employer owes you for unpaid overtime, you may choose to file a lawsuit in court, in which case you should consult with an attorney who specializes in employment law. Alternatively, in Texas, you may choose to file a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), which handles a variety of violations, including overtime violations.

Unfortunately, Texas employers routinely commit employment law violations, including wage violations, failure to pay bonuses and commissions owed, unauthorized wages deductions such as cost for uniforms, wrongful termination, retaliation, sexual harassment, and more. It’s up to you to protect yourself. Our law firm, serving Plano, Frisco, and surrounding communities, can help.