Unpaid Overtime Lawyer Cincinnati, Ohio
Getting paid for all hours you work is your fundamental right. A federal law called the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers in Ohio and everywhere else in the United States to respect that right and comply with the law.
Despite knowing that they can be held liable for doing so, companies and agencies regularly withhold and deny wages in violation of the FLSA. Refusing to pay overtime to workers who qualify to receive it is especially common and is a violation of the FLSA.
At The Friedmann Firm, our Cincinnati unpaid overtime lawyers pride ourselves on fighting for clients who deserve both the full payment of unpaid overtime and monetary compensation for suffering violations of their rights. If you can prove a violation of the FLSA has occurred, you are also entitled to “liquidated damages” or double the amount of unpaid overtime you may be owed. Here are three circumstances in which we may be able to advise and represent you.
Your Employer Has Not Paid You the Overtime You Earned
The number one reason to consult with and hire a Cincinnati overtime lawyer is if you earned overtime pay but never received it. The FLSA requires employers to pay overtime to each employee who is paid hourly and does not fall within an exemption to the FLSA.
Eligibility for earning overtime starts as soon as you work more than 40 hours during a 7-day workweek. The minimum overtime rate is 1.5 times your regular hourly rate of pay.
Going by these rules, all minimum wage employees and workers who receive tips such as wait staff and bartenders are eligible to earn overtime. Illegal practices employers engage in to try to avoid paying earned overtime include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Misclassifying employees as independent contractors to avoid paying overtime under the FLSA;
- Miscategorizing hourly employees as salaried managers;
- Telling tipped employees that they are not eligible for overtime;
- Miscalculating tips;
- Falsifying timesheets;
- Requiring employees to work off the clock before or after an official shift; and
- Threatening to fire employees who will not work unpaid overtime.
One of our Cincinnati unpaid overtime lawyer can answer questions about your own eligibility to earn overtime during a free and confidential consultation.
Your Employer Cheated You and Several of Your Coworkers Out of the Overtime You All Earned
During our years of practice as unpaid overtime lawyers in Cincinnati, Ohio, we have rarely seen an employer who withholds overtime from only a single employee. Laws other than the FLSA give workers the right to discuss pay and wages with their coworkers. Exercising that right when you suspect you are being denied earned overtime can make it possible to pursue a collective action or class action lawsuit.
Multiple plaintiffs telling the same story about not being paid fairly can be more convincing than just one person. Creating a united front against an employer who makes cheating workers out of overtime pay a standard business practice also helps ensure that past victims can be made whole financially and that future workers will not be mistreated.
If you hire an Cincinnati employment law attorney to handle your unpaid overtime complaint, they will obtain and review corporate records to detect patterns of unfair pay practices.
Your Employer Punished or Fired You for Asking About Unpaid Overtime
Managers and supervisors do not like being questioned about underpaying workers and breaking the law. They often, and unfortunately, retaliate against employees they consider troublemakers. That is illegal.
Employees who ask about or file complaints over unpaid overtime can find themselves being denied shifts, reassigned to dangerous or demeaning tasks, physically and verbally abused, and fired. Such workplace retaliation can provide grounds for a lawsuit.
Contact Our Cincinnati Overtime Lawyer for A Free Consultation
You can schedule a no-cost, no-pressure appointment with an overtime lawyer in Cincinnati, Ohio, by connecting with The Friedmann Firm online. If you’d prefer to speak with one of our employee rights attorneys directly, call us at 614.610.9755.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
FREE CONSULTATION
