An experienced minimum wage attorney will know extensively about federal and state laws governing wages and hours. They will know how to evaluate employment pay records, internal company communications, and statements from other workers.
Employers stand little to gain by paying employees below minimum wage. As such, these violations often lend themselves to class action lawsuits.
Class Action Lawsuits
Multiple people can pursue the same legal claim against an employer in a class action lawsuit. This type of litigation allows people to share expenses and risks and reduces the cost of legal representation. Lawyers can offer different fee arrangements for this case, including hourly and contingent fees.
New York, employees in healthcare, financial services, insurance, mortgage, higher education, and hospitality (hotels, bars, and restaurants) are subject to minimum wage laws. These rules protect against unpaid wages and allow workers to file a lawsuit against their employers for violating federal and state laws.
Federal and state laws set standards for pay, overtime, and recordkeeping. These rules are complex and vary from industry to industry. An experienced NY wage and hour attorney can help companies assess compensation structures and policies to ensure compliance. A lawyer can also help employees understand how these laws apply to them and their claims.
Overtime Pay
Federal and state laws require that employers pay employees overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week. However, some employers violate these laws by not paying employees what they owe. They may do this by refusing to pay overtime, paying workers only at their straight hourly rate instead of time and a half, or docking their paychecks for reasons unrelated to the amount of work they’ve done. Employers also try to skirt overtime rules by misclassifying employees as exempt or salaried. They may also fail to include travel time or pre- and post-shift job duties in their calculations.
A skilled Manhattan minimum wage lawyer can examine your paystubs and determine whether or not you’re owed unpaid overtime wages. If so, a qualified attorney can help you file a lawsuit against your employer and receive the compensation you deserve. If your employer isn’t complying with federal, state, and city wage and hour laws, they’re essentially stealing money from their employees.
Liquidated Damages
Liquidated damages are predetermined monetary amounts established to approximate intangible or difficult-to-quantify losses that may occur to one of the parties involved in a contract. These provisions are usually included in contracts and can benefit both parties. They avoid employing experts to prove the extent of harm suffered in the event of a breach. However, they are not always enforceable. Courts may refuse to enforce the provision that the predetermined amount is grossly disproportionate to the actual harm.
Generally, employees who were wrongfully denied minimum wage or overtime compensation can recover liquidated damages and lost wages. In New York, an employer can be required to pay liquidated damages under both the FLSA and the NYLL unless they can demonstrate that their failure to pay wages was justified. Typically, liquidated damages are a fraction of the unpaid wages. However, several other factors could reduce the amount of liquidated damages.
Statute of Limitations
As with every legal claim, specific deadlines are called statutes of limitations that must be met when bringing an employment law complaint against your employer. You can be dismissed from your claim if you file it outside the specified time frame.
The statutes of limitation vary depending on the particular law that your employer violated. For example, while most claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act have two-year statutes of limitations, some wage violation cases that allege retaliation against an employee have longer statutes of limitations.
Many people mistakenly believe that filing a complaint with the Department of Labor, whether Federal or NY State, stops the clock on their statute of limitations. This is not true. Filing a complaint with the DOL can cause your statute of limitations to expire. This is not good for employees because it means they can miss out on their legal rights to unpaid wages and other damages.