Employment, Labor Law, Unpaid Overtime, Harassment

Pelham Manor, NY: Employees who have not been given adequate overtime pay can take heart. A recent lawsuit, alleging, among other things, that a carwash chain violated overtime laws, has been settled for $3.4 million. [ Read More ]

New York, NY: A Rite Aid annual shareholder meeting became the site of a worker's rally, denouncing forced Rite Aid overtime and other practices employees say are "abusive, disrespectful and illegal" according to a June 26 article by the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Although Rite Aid faces allegations of unpaid overtime regarding its assistant managers, it is alleged that union-busting tactics have employees asking shareholders to change how the company is run. [ Read More ]

San Bernadino, CA: Jill is one of countless people who has been terminated without cause, and some employers take advantage of the California Labor Law. The state of California labor code presumes that employees are "at will", which means that employees working under an employment contract can only be terminated for reasons in their contract. [ Read More ]

Unpaid overtime is a huge issue facing thousands of employees. It can involve things such as not being paid for breaks, being asked to work "off-the-clock", or being "misclassified" as a Manager.

National Overtime Pay Laws

Overtime for Computer Programmers Some companies try to avoid paying employees overtime by categorizing them as "salaried" employees.

Overtime for Stock Brokers Stock and commodities brokers are entitled to overtime compensation regardless of the dollar volume of commissions they earned.

Overtime, General United States federal law is very specific about overtime pay, which is calculated at the regular hourly rate plus an additional 50%. If you work more than 40 hours per week, you may be entitled to overtime pay.

California Overtime Pay Laws

Overtime for California Managers In California, unlike the rest of the US, a manager or assistant manager must earn double the minimum wage to qualify for an exemption from overtime pay. If your title is "Manager" or "Assistant Manager", but you spend more than 40% of your work hours performing the duties of a regular worker, you may be entitled to overtime wages.

Overtime California If you work in California and have worked for more than 6 consecutive days, or regularly work for more than 8 hours in a day, you may be entitled to overtime wages.

New York Overtime Pay Laws

Overtime New York If you work in New York and have worked more than 40 hours per week (or more than 44 hours for residential employees), you may be entitled to overtime wages.

Sexual harassment in any State is unwelcome conduct that can occur in a variety of circumstances, the harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another department, a co-worker, a non-employee or a client. The victim does not have to be the opposite sex and the victim does not have to be the person harassed but simply one person or one of multiple persons affected by the offensive conduct.

If you have been the victim of sexual harassment or a hostile work environment, particularly where there are multiple victims and/or witnesses and your complaints to the company have fallen on deaf ears, you may have a pattern or practice hostile work environment claim.

Previously, only someone who was a direct victim of sexual harassment could sue. However, the California Supreme Court recently decided that when sexual favoritism is frequent and obvious it may create a "hostile workplace" and be grounds for a lawsuit.

Employment discrimination occurs whenever an employer or its representatives adversely single out employees or job applicants on the basis of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion and a variety of other reasons, such as weight or smoking, according to the Employment Discrimination laws enforced by the The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commi (EEOC). If you have been illegally discriminated against, your employer must be in violation of a specific state or Federal statute.

The EEOC states that employers can't discriminate against you in any aspect of employment, such as:

• Hiring and firing
• Compensation, assignment, or classification of employees
• Transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall
• Job advertisements
• Recruitment
• Testing
• Use of company facilities
• Training and apprenticeship programs
• Fringe benefits
• Pay, retirement plans, and disability leave

A furlough, either voluntary or involuntary, is a temporary leave of absence from employment or armed services, or from a prison term. Mandatory furloughs, which require employees to take time off without pay, are occurring across several industries and states, particularly involving IT workers in California.

Although a furlough can be an effective cost-cutting measure for employers, many employees who have been issued a long term furlough have been forced to seek employment elsewhere. And several lawsuits have been filed from California to New Jersey, claiming furloughs are illegal.