You work more than 40 hours per week, maybe as much as 72 hours. Your employer gives you a lump sum payment, maybe in cash, but if you add it up, you are not getting the overtime rate of time and one-half for each hour that you work over 40 hours. You must be paid for each hour of overtime that you work, and you must be paid one and one-half times your straight time rate for each hour of overtime worked. Your employer cannot make a “deal” with you to pay some of the overtime and not all of the overtime, or some of the overtime at straight time and some at a little more than straight time - it has to be all at one and one-half times your regular rate. And it does not make a difference if you are an undocumented worker. Your employer has to give you a written statement each week just how he is calculating your hours worked, rate of straight time pay, and rate of overtime pay. If he doesn’t, maybe he is trying to hide that he is putting your overtime wages into his pocket.

Employees are often shortchanged when their employer does not pay overtime. Federal Law and New York State law do not permit overtime wage violations. Over the years, you can lose a lot of money when your employer puts into his pocket the difference between the overtime wage he owes and the wage he actually pays you. Nor can your employer subject you to retaliation in New York State or New York City because you complain that you are not being paid the overtime wages.

Contact us online or call us at (212) 949-1001 if you think that your employer's harmful actions stem from not paying you overtime wages, and we will use our more than 25 years of experience to help you resolve the matter by negotiation or by going to court in the State of New York or New York City.