Industry News

Health Care Workers Forced to Work Off-The-Clock

Osman & Smay LLC recently filed a federal collective action lawsuit asserting that health care workers were allegedly forced to perform work off-the-clock and not paid all overtime wages due under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The case involves a nursing home that allegedly had a policy and practice of not paying overtime compensation by…

Misclassification of Health Care Workers as Exempt

Osman & Smay LLC recently filed a federal collective action lawsuit asserting that health care workers were allegedly improperly classified as exempt from overtime.  The case involves health care workers whose job duties require them to provide care to mentally and physically disabled persons living in a group home setting.  The plaintiff alleges that she…

What Is My Overtime Rate?

This is a question that most workers need to ask much more frequently.  Most employees believe that their overtime rate should be 1.5 times their hourly rate.  However, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that covered employees receive an overtime rate of 1.5 times their “regular rate,” and makes no mention of an “hourly rate.” …

Protecting Yourself Against Wage Rights Violations

Although workers can not typically prevent an employer from violating their rights, there are things that workers can do to protect themselves.  The following is a list of five things that employees should be doing to prevent employers from taking advantage of them. Learn About Your Rights: Understanding your rights in the workplace is the…

Many Salaried Workers Are Entitled to Overtime

The general rule, under federal law, is that employees are entitled to overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week.  Most people believe that workers who are paid a salary are disqualified from being paid overtime.  Unfortunately, this unqualified conclusion is false.  Although many salaried workers are not entitled to overtime,…

How do I know if I am being paid fairly?

People often ask this simple question, but the answer is frequently complex and requires a detailed review of several issues.  Generally, these issues can be simplified into three simple areas: 1) How are you paid?; 2) How much are you paid?; and 3) What do you do? One of the first questions that I ask…