Overtime Pay Complaints » Overtime News

An Economist Asks If Overtime is Necessary?

Administrator — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:47:42 +0000

A blogging economist at Businessweek wrote a post not too long ago asking readers “Is Overtime Necessary?” The economist claims that according to BW’s cover story, Wage Wars, companies have paid out more than $1 billion per year to settle “wage and hour” overtime pay lawsuits.

The precise question posed is “Should the overtime laws be extended to white-collar workers, or is it time to drop the overtime laws for nonexempt workers as well?”

I vote in favor of more protection for the employees. How do you overtime pay employees feel about it?

If you were employed and you believe that your employer has not paid you all of the overtime pay, hourly wages, salary and other benefits that you believe your employer owes you, tell us your story!

-Report Unpaid Overtime & Wages-

CNN Money.com | Overtime Pay Time Bomb?

Administrator — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:31:23 +0000

CNN Money.com | Fortune Small Business reports that the number of small businesses facing overtime pay law suits has exploded since 2004, when the U.S. Department of Labor revised the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to clarify which workers are exempt from overtime laws. In 2006 the department collected $172 million in back wages from employers – up 3.6 percent over its take in 2005.Last year the department (the “DOL”) announced judgments and settlements in the millions against small businesses, which often have more exposure because they lack in-house legal teams or HR departments, according to CNN.

If you were employed by a small business and you believe that your employer has not paid you all of the overtime pay, hourly wages, salary and other benefits that you believe your employer owes you, tell us your story!

-Report Unpaid Overtime & Wages-

New Overtime Rules Bad News For Employees?

Administrator — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 22:04:31 +0000

In 2004, new overtime rules by the U.S. Department of Labor took effect regarding when and how employers making more than $500,000 in revenue must pay their employees for overtime work. The new overtime rules are mostly bad news for employees, according to Steve Strauss, a lawyer, author and speaker, in his USA Today article “New Overtime Rules Are Mostly Bad For Employees.”

The good news he says is that almost all employees who make less than $455 per week ($23,660 a year) are eligible for overtime pay. The old overtime rule set overtime pay for anyone who made less than $250 per week. The new overtime rule applies whether the overtime employee is a blue collar worker or a white collar worker, or regardless of whether they supervise people or not (an exception is for teachers, doctors and lawyers — they do not get overtime, no matter how much they are paid).

Unfortunately, the bad news, according to Strauss, is that:

Any employee who earns more than $100,000 per year is not eligible for overtime pay.
Any employee who earns between $23,660 and $100,000 a year, and who is in a qualifying executive, professional, or administrative position, is not eligible for overtime.
Managers are not entitled to overtime if they oversee two or more people and have the authority to hire, fire, or recommend that someone be hired or fired.
Administrative employees who have decision-making power and run some sort of operation are not eligible.
Employees whose jobs require imagination, invention, originality, or artistic or creative endeavors are not eligible for overtime.
Employees whose main duties are computer-related and involve the implementation, analysis, development, or application of computer systems or designs are also not eligible for overtime.
sales staff that regularly work outside of the employer’s place of business are not eligible either.

Well, have the new overtime rules been good news or bad news for you?

-Report Unpaid Overtime & Wages-