What Does an Unpaid Overtime Settlement Consist of In Ohio?

The Fair Labor Standards Act covers the ways that employees are paid overtime. There was a recent change to this set of regulations and standards to keep up with inflation and the rising cost of living. These federal laws govern Ohio and all of the other states in the US.

When employers are not compliant with these wage laws and employees take their grievances to court, an unpaid overtime settlement might be owed to the employee. Even tipped employees in the state of Ohio are due overtime pay if they meet the non-exempt qualifications. Businesses that violate the FLSA rules and regulations can expect to pay employees the back income that they are owed as well as interest and penalties.

Why Do Employers Break This Law?

There are many reasons that employers might break the overtime laws that have been put in place by the federal government. In many cases, the issue is due to poor record-keeping regarding the hours that an employee has worked. However, in some cases, the oversight is intentional. There are very clear guidelines that govern overtime payments in the state of Ohio, and employers should not have trouble meeting these standards and paying employees fairly.

There are many easy-to-understand worksheets that lay out the rules and regulations of these laws. Employers are provided with the information, and they should be sure that their payroll people know how to apply them when generating paystubs. The laws are not so complex that employers should be mistaken about how to pay their employees who are working overtime hours, and even small employers should be able to readily track the hours of their employees and compensate them correctly.

There are some key types of jobs that do not get access to overtime, but these are also simple designations to understand, and no one should be confused about which group their employees fit into.

What Goes Into an Unpaid Overtime Settlement?

There are three types of damages that employees can pursue when they have not been paid overtime correctly. The employer owes them the money that they should have been paid, but the law allows for other considerations to be built into the amount that is owed to the employee after trial.

Unpaid Wages

This is the key item that employees are due related to an unpaid overtime settlement. This is the amount of money that the employee should have been paid for overtime hours worked. If there were some overtime payments made, the difference between what was paid and what is owed might be the demand that is made related to the settlement.

Liquidated Damages

This is another term for double damages. The FLSA regulations state that if an employer is found to have violated the law, the employee is owed double the money that they should have been paid. The statute of limitations for all of these claims is two years and three years if the employee can prove that the lack of payment was willful.

Attorney Costs

The other thing that employees can seek in this kind of settlement is the costs of their attorney. There are unpaid attorney’s costs that are often associated with this kind of claim. Employees are allowed to ask for this money as part of the settlement they are demanding.

Another result of this kind of settlement case is that the employer is almost always asked to change their policies to avoid this kind of problem in the future. This is not a damage award,  but it is a good way to make sure that the employer does not take similar actions against other employees in the future.

Work With a Employment Lawyer

If you believe that your employer is not paying you correctly and you think that they are in violation of the FLSA overtime regulations, you will need a skilled employment attorney working on your case. These are federal laws that the employer is not abiding by, and the case will need to be handled correctly to seek all of the awards that the employee is due plus their back pay.

Work with Hux Law Firm if you believe that your employer has not been paying you fairly. We can help you to seek the compensation that you deserve as well as the additional awards that are provided for within the FLSA regulations. While your employer might not have paid you incorrectly intentionally, they should be asked to pay you the amount that you were not provided as well as the damages that you are owed.