7 Common Overtime Violations in Texas

7 Common Overtime Violations in Texas

Many Texas employers take advantage of the confusing state overtime laws to deny their workers the overtime pay they rightfully earned. Employers may even refuse to answer employee questions about overtime pay to keep them in the dark about their shortened paystubs.

Is Your Texas Employer Adequately Paying You for Overtime Worked?

Hourly employees are paid by the amount of time they work, and most Texas workers who get paid an hourly wage are entitled to protections under a federal law known as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Regulations under the FLSA include guaranteed overtime pay to employees without exemption from its policies for any time worked over 40 hours within a single week.

FLSA mandates the standards employers in the United States must meet for things like overtime pay and minimum wages. However, some workers (mainly white-collar employees) are exempt from these federal protections. Blue-collar workers and employees who perform manual labor are most often non-exempt from FLSA regulations.

7 Ways Your Texas Employer Could Be Violating Overtime Laws

Seven common tactics Texas employers may use to evade paying workers what they are owed include:

Reclassification

Some Texas employers who learn they violate employee overtime rights will reclassify workers without paying back the overtime wages they previously earned. If you formerly did not receive overtime pay but started receiving it after your employer reclassified your position without modifying your duties, your employer may have been violating your overtime rights.

Salaried Employees

Many Texas workers do not believe they are entitled to overtime pay because they receive a salary. However, all employees must collect overtime pay unless they are paid at least $455 per week and perform duties that qualify them as exempt.

Independent Contractors

Employers may illegitimately label their workers as temporary or independent contractors to dodge overtime pay obligations as overtime pay is only available to “employees.” Still, many of these workers are actually employees.

Straight Time

Federal overtime laws mandate that employers pay at least one-and-a-half times an employee’s regular rate for any time worked in excess of 40 hours in a single workweek. There are almost no exceptions to this rule for hourly employees. Therefore, if you are an hourly worker and you are not receiving at least 1.5 times your regular pay rate for overtime, your employer may violate federal and Texas laws.

Unauthorized Overtime

Deleting hours from timesheets or refusing to pay workers overtime pay because their hours were not pre-approved is illegal under state and federal law. Employers do not need to preauthorize overtime hours for workers to receive their overtime wages.

Stealing Time

All work performed must be appropriately compensated, including for work performed:

• Before clocking-in
• After clocking-out
• Putting on necessary safety gear
• During meal breaks
• Traveling between work sites
• Attending mandatory work meetings
• Completing required training

Ensure you are having all time spent working documented to prove your eligibility for pay.

Commissioned Employee

If the duties of your job do not include regular traveling away from your employer’s workplace, you may be entitled to overtime pay, even as a commissioned employee.

Partner With a Texas Attorney to Help You Recover Withheld Overtime Pay

At Lore Law Firm, we help hardworking employees like you recover the overtime pay to which they are entitled. If you believe your employer is improperly calculating your overtime pay or withholding overtime wages from you, we may be able to help.

We believe workers deserve to be paid fairly for their work and are committed to holding companies accountable for a failure to do so. To discuss your case with a Lore Law Firm employee rights attorney today, call us, reach out online, or complete our contact form for a free and confidential review.