FLSA Category Archives — Page 11 of 15 — Atlanta Employment Attorneys Blog Published by Atlanta, Georgia Employment Lawyers

What the ‘Economic Reality Test’ Is and How It May Impact Your Unpaid Overtime Case in Georgia

October 15, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

For many people who need to pursue legal action for unpaid overtime, one of the biggest hurdles they must clear is establishing that they are employees and not independent contractors, as independent contractors are not entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Success in this regard involves utilizing the “economic reality test” established under federal law. Utilizing this test to your maximum benefit can be critical to your success, so it is vitally important that you have an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer on your side from the very start.

To get an idea of this “economic reality test” in action, there’s this recent FLSA case from the federal court for the Northern District of Georgia. The plaintiffs were maintenance workers who alleged that, over an extended period, they were deprived of substantial amounts of overtime pay.

The group of handymen did maintenance work for an entity created to provide maintenance and property rehab services to a residential property management company. R.K., one of the workers, alleged that he “worked an average of ’60-plus hours a week'” during the period from April 2018 to January 2019 but did not get paid any overtime.

You May Be Entitled to Overtime Pay in Georgia, Even if Your Job Title Says You’re a ‘Manager’

September 30, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

Your employer may engage in various tactics that result in your not getting the total pay you deserve, including when it comes to overtime pay. Those techniques may be intentional or they may be negligent but, either way, they may be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and may entitle you to receive compensation. Time to act and seek that compensation is limited, however, so make sure you contact a knowledgeable Atlanta overtime lawyer right away if you think you have been illegally denied the overtime you deserve.

A case from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is a prime example. What started as an investigation into improper employment practices at a single golf driving range eventually expanded… by a great deal. By the time the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division finished, a Texas-based employer was on the hook for $750,000 in improperly unpaid overtime wages to more than 250 employers in 25 states. That group included 11 driving range employees here in the Atlanta area.

Of the $750,000, nearly $50,000 went to those 11 Georgia employees, including $16,000 to four employees at the Alpharetta driving range and nearly $33,000 to seven employees at the West Midtown location.

A New Federal Court Minimum Wage Ruling Could Offer Huge Benefits for Some Tipped Workers in Georgia

September 17, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

If you work in many parts of the service industry, you know the importance of tips to your overall income. That’s because tipped workers’ base minimum “cash wage” is only $2.13 per hour under the Fair Labor and Standards Act. There are circumstances, though, where your employer is not entitled to pay you this lower wage, even if your job position is that of a tipped worker. If you think that you’ve been unfairly denied your proper wages, you should act without delay to contact an Atlanta minimum wage lawyer.

Some places have state laws that impose higher minimum wage obligations on employers than the FLSA does. Georgia is not one of those states. The federal law, though, does erect some rules to safeguard tipped workers. As a recent minimum wage case reminds us, one of those things is that, even if you work as a tipped restaurant server, your employer cannot pay you the tipped worker wage and then assign you to tasks that do not allow you to earn tips.

L.R., the plaintiff, worked as a server at a diner. According to the server, the employer required her to perform various tasks other than serving guests. These jobs included an array of things, ranging from re-stocking the salad bar to cleaning the restaurant to rolling silverware inside napkins. None of these tasks involved interacting with customers so none of the time spent on them presented an opportunity to earn a tip.

11th Circuit Court Says that Farm Workers Were Entitled to Overtime for the Hours They Spent Transporting Other Workers to and from Work

September 10, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

There are many ways in which a Fair Labor Standards Act violation can occur. One of those is when your employer fails to pay you overtime for the work you did in excess of 40 hours in a week. This failure could mean missing out on a substantial amount of pay. Your employer may try to avoid paying and avoid liability by arguing that the FLSA does not entitle you to receive overtime pay. When that happens to you, fight back with an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer.

You probably already know that certain groups of workers are described as “exempt” when it comes to the overtime provisions of the FLSA. In other words, employers do not violate the law when they fail to pay those workers overtime. Generally, a lot of folks associate “exempt employee” jobs with “white collar” salaried positions. These workers aren’t the only ones who are exempt. Another group of exempt workers is agricultural workers.

As the overtime case of a fruit harvesting and hauling company based in Florida reveals, though, not all work done in connection with an agricultural operation is, in fact, covered by the agriculture exemption to the FLSA. In other words, just because you work in the agriculture business, that does not automatically mean you cannot be owed overtime pay.

Another Atlanta-Area Gentlemen’s Club is Facing a Legal Action Brought by Its Dancers Whom It Allegedly Illegally Underpaid

August 23, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

June 2021 brought yet another lawsuit against an Atlanta-area gentlemen’s club due to the club’s alleged failure to comply with minimum wage and overtime laws in its payment of its dancers. This is not the first time that a Georgia club has been hauled into court for this kind of legal violation. For those both inside and outside the strip club industry, a failure to receive the pay the law demands means an unfairly diminished degree of financial security. Don’t suffer in silence; instead, get in touch with a knowledgeable Atlanta minimum wage and overtime lawyer right away.

This latest Fair Labor Standards Act case involved a strip club located in Clayton County. The plaintiffs were two of the club’s dancers who alleged that the pay they received violated both minimum wage and overtime laws.

According to one of the dancers, she worked more than 1,000 unpaid hours across five months, 200 of which were overtime hours. The second dancer had it even worse, working more than 2,400 unpaid hours across 13 months, including 600 hours of overtime, according to the complaint. All told, the club allegedly owed the dancers more than $27,000 and $55,000, respectively.

The Many Reasons Why It Is Important to Choose Wisely When Your Employer Makes a Settlement Offer in Your Minimum Wage Case

August 9, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

When you retain a knowledgeable Atlanta minimum wage lawyer, you are getting more than just the things that that attorney knows about the law itself. You are also getting the benefit of everything that that lawyer knows about trials and trial practice, including all of the procedural rules and requirements. You are getting your counsel’s knowledge of a case’s value, derived from his/her past professional experiences. When you choose the right attorney, you are getting a wealth of knowledge in all of these areas, which can help at every step along the way, including making settlement-versus-litigation decisions or carrying out an appeal.

Taking the correct steps at each of these junctures is crucial to maximizing your success. A minimum wage case that was recently before the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is a good example.

The worker in the case, R.V., was a salesman at a vehicle dealership. The salesman’s lawsuit alleged that the employer forced him to work off the clock without paying him a minimum wage, in addition to other violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The salesman asserted that the employer owed him more than $12,700 in damages.

Farm Workers in Southwest Georgia Land $100K Federal Court Settlement in Unpaid Overtime Dispute

July 21, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

When you sue because you were denied overtime pay you rightfully earned, there are several critical decisions you’ll need to make, including those related to settling the case. These include answering questions like: Do I settle now or hold out? and Is this offer amount a fair sum? It also involves determining whether the proposed settlement agreement is genuinely fair and properly protects your interests. When it comes to making these essential decisions, don’t go it alone, but instead rely on the knowledgeable advice of an experienced Atlanta unpaid overtime lawyer.

The settlement of a recent Fair Labor Standards Act case from rural southwest Georgia demonstrates how essential it is to ensure, not only that you have the right settlement amount, but also the right settlement agreement.

The plaintiffs were a group of several dozen workers who processed animals at a Georgia slaughterhouse. The workers were hourly employees who allegedly, on several occasions, worked more than 40 hours in a week but did not receive the overtime pay they should have.

Even Just a Small Number of Interstate Phone Calls Was Enough to Give a Worker a Potentially Winning FLSA Case

July 14, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

If you have been harmed at work, such as a failure by your employer to pay you minimum wage or your failure to receive overtime pay you’ve earned, you’ll face many hurdles. One of these may be people – whether it’s your employer or third parties – trying to convince you that you have no case. Don’t rely on the opinions of the naysayers. Instead, make your decisions only after you’ve sought out and obtained advice from a knowledgeable Atlanta wage-and-hour lawyer. You might be surprised what options the law has for you.

W.S.E. was a worker whose unpaid overtime case illustrates this point well. Even though W.S.E. worked (and sued) in Florida, her case was decided by the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is the court whose opinions control federal cases in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, so the ruling has a direct impact on you if you’re pursuing a Fair Labor Standards Act case in federal court here in Georgia.

W.S.E., an administrative assistant with a small pest-control services company that served the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area, filed an FLSA lawsuit in which she accused her employer of improperly failing to pay overtime it owed her.

Georgia Employees’ FLSA Claims to be Amended in Attempt at Class Certification

May 14, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

In attempting to assert an Atlanta employment law claim, it important that the plaintiff include the appropriate allegations and requests for relief. Sometimes, however, more information becomes available as the case develops, such that a plaintiff may attempt to file an “amended complaint” to include the new information or an updated demand for relief.

Depending upon the court rules and the status of the proceedings, the plaintiff may or may not need the court’s permission to file an amended complaint. Likewise, the defendant may wish to alter its answer. A timely request to amend the pleadings is important, regardless of whether it is the plaintiff or the defendant who is making the request.

An amended pleading may appear to give the parties more than a single “bite at the apple,” so to speak. However, there are limitations on what can be accomplished via an amendment, as rules such as the statute of limitations still apply.

Federal Appeals Court Holds That Amount of Attorney Fees Awarded in Fair Labor Standards Act Case in Georgia Was Reasonable Under the Circumstances

February 21, 2021 | Parks, Chesin & Walbert

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that establishes a minimum wage and sets forth the rules that apply to overtime pay. This important statute also codifies certain recordkeeping requirements that are to be imposed upon employers, and it has provisions designed to prevent the exploitation of children in the workforce.

If someone believes that they may have an Atlanta wage and hour claim, it is important that they speak with legal counsel as soon as possible. There are several important steps to asserting one’s legal rights under the FLSA, and deadlines may apply.

A successful FLSA litigant may be entitled to several types of damages, including a court order requiring the defendant employer to pay the plaintiff employee’s attorney’s fees and related litigation costs. The plaintiff employee may also be entitled to monetary compensation for unpaid overtime wages, among other damages.