Tampa Wage & Hour Lawyer

If you have been taken advantage of by an employer who refuses to pay your wages, routinely pays you late, docks your pay for reasons of their choosing, or you believe is otherwise violating Florida or Federal law, you need to talk to an attorney. The Tampa wage and hour lawyers at the Pendas Law Firm represent clients who are owed wages, overtime, bonuses, and other types of compensation stated in their employment contracts.

Minimum Wage

Florida minimum wage is $8.46 per hour. Despite the law, many employers attempt to pay their employees less. There are a number of ways that they accomplish this, or attempt to accomplish this. Failure to pay overtime, misclassifying employees as independent contractors, and outright wage withholding are a few common tactics.

Misclassification of Employees

Misclassification is very common, according to the Harvard Business Review. There are a couple of reasons why employers unlawfully misclassify employees as independent contractors, and each of these reasons is to save on expenses. By classifying an employee as an independent contractor, an employer can get out of the responsibility for a slightly higher premium for workers’ compensation insurance. The employee, now classified as an independent contractor, also misses out on benefits such as health insurance, family and medical leave, and access to retirement funds. Just as critical, the employee is paid per project, which may end up meaning that they make less than minimum wage even if the project was projected to fall within minimum wage pay per hour.

Overtime

All hourly employees in Florida must be paid time and a half for their overtime hours. Any hour over 40 per week is considered to be overtime, regardless of the number of hours worked each day. For example, an employee driving a forklift at a warehouse could work seven hours each day, then 11 hours on Friday and still not be paid overtime, whereas a worker who clocked nine hours for five days would earn five hours of overtime pay. However, all manual labor workers are entitled to overtime when they work more than 10 hours per day. Time and a half is 150 percent of the employee’s normal wages. If you earn $12 an hour, your overtime pay would equate to $12 plus $6 dollars, putting you at $18 an hour.

Were You Really Off the Clock?

 Hourly employees cannot be asked or forced to perform any type of job-related duties or work “off the clock,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor. All forms of work, regardless of the hour, must be compensated at the employee’s normal hourly rate.

Call a Tampa Wage and Hour Lawyer Now

The only way that your employer, or former employer, will take you seriously and pay the compensation that they owe you is if you hire an attorney. The courts can also hold your employer responsible for paying legal fees, meaning that even if you do not believe that your case is worth enough to pursue with an attorney, chances are that it is. Call the Tampa law offices of The Pendas Law Firm today at 1-844-200-0000 to speak to a wage and hour lawyer.