FSLA, or the Fair Labor Standards Act, has regularly been rewritten over the years to reflect a number of changes in how government agencies view work and the rights of certain individuals. Most of the time, FSLA governs child labor, overtime pay, and the right to reduced hours or modified tasks for one's job when a person has lost some physical ability to perform all of the related tasks. If you feel that your employer is somehow violating these laws, you should meet with an FSLA attorney to discuss the problem. Before you do, you should become acquainted with some of the laws surrounding overtime pay, since that is typically the biggest complaint by workers.

Overtime Pay Is Not a "Right"

​Most people think that just because they put in more than forty hours of work, they are entitled to overtime pay. Sadly, that is not the case. There are some jobs where workers are held exempt from overtime pay.

Usually, salaried employees are exempt because they do not make hourly pay. Some construction jobs and a few other jobs where it is common to put in very long hours may also be exempt from overtime pay. Additionally, companies can structure their weeks and their shifts such that you may work "overtime" in a standard week (i.e., Sun-Sat), but the company's definition of a week is not the same, so the extra hours do not count toward that week as overtime. These "extra" hours may be part of last week's hours or next week's hours as defined by the company's definition of a week. Check to make sure any overtime you think you are due does not fall within company policy of the company's definition of a week. 

​If You Are Owed Overtime, but the Company Is Not Paying...

​A company that actually owes its workers overtime pay must provide those employees a reasonable and timely excuse for not paying them what is owed. Then the company has to make restitution in a timely manner after acknowledging that it owes employees overtime. If your employer does neither of these things, and you can prove that your overtime is overtime owed, you can sue. You must file your complaint with the FSLA within a month or two of not receiving pay that is owed, and if the money is not paid to you after the FSLA gets involved, then you can take your employer to court. Additionally, if your employer attempts to, or succeeds in, fire/firing you, it can be viewed as a retaliatory move, and you can sue for additional pay.

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