What to do if I’m not beig paid overtime wages?
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What to do if I’m not beig paid overtime wages?
My employer says that because he “allows” us to have 2 breaks a day of 15 minutes or 1 30 minute paid break to combine the breaks into 1, that he does not have to pay us overtime. That is until we clock 42.5 hours per week. If I understand the law correctly, overtime starts at 40 hours.
Asked on July 2, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
You do understand the core of the law correctly: under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the regulations implementing it, hourly staff must be paid overtime (time-and-a-half) for all hours worked over 40 in a single work week. However, overtime is only for time actually *worked*: lunchbreaks and long rest breaks (more than 15 minutes, I believe) do not count as "work" if the employee is not actually working during that time. So it's only for more than 40 hours of *work* per week that you get overtime.
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