Category: Minimum Wages

Recently, a popular sports bar chain agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle a wage and hour claim. The back wage lawsuit arose as the result of the bar’s improperly withholding tips from waiters and bartenders. Additionally, the lawsuit alleged that “Chickie’s & Pete’s,” violated minimum wage and overtime pay laws. Overtime pay and minimum wage laws provided by federal law in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) may be confusing. If you have questions about your pay and whether you are receiving all the compensation you deserve, it…

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets forth federal guidelines that affect nearly all employers concerning overtime pay and minimum wage requirements. For example, the FLSA requires that workers be paid at least minimum wage and overtime pay at a rate of one and one-half times their standard rate of pay for those non-exempt workers who put in more than 40 hours in week. A question that frequently comes up is whether undocumented workers are entitled to these protections as well. Several courts across the country have looked at this…

During this week’s the State of the Union address President Obama revealed his plan to hike the minimum wage to $10.10/from $7.25 for federal employees through the use of an Executive Order. Obama stated, “Today, the federal minimum wage is worth about twenty percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan first stood here. Tom Harkin and George Miller have a bill to fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10. This will help families. It will give businesses customers with more money to spend. It doesn’t involve any…

A Georgia federal court has determined that a group of exotic dancers who are suing a strip club for alleged wage-and-hour violation are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) rather than independent contractors. In this wage and hour case the court reviewed the dancers claims, specifically that the strip club allegedly violated federal labor laws, by failing to pay exotic dancers denying minimum wage or overtime pay and forcing them to pay “kick-backs” to work. According to the complaint the dancers were only paid by tips received from…

With the coming new year, 13 states will be increasing their minimum wage. Although Congress failed to raise the federal minimum wage, these states have taken action to improve the pay of many minimum wage workers. And another 11 states and the District of Columbia are considering taking action in 2014. The push for an increase in minimum wage follows growing concern about the disproportionate spread of low-wage workers, and the need to increase the amount of disposable income lower income consumers have in order improve local economies. While the…

In a victory for home health care workers, the White House has just announced that these workers will finally be entitled to minimum wage and overtime protections. For 38-years, these workers have been denied the same protections granted to almost all workers in America. The long awaited amendment will take effect January 1, 2015 and will impact some 2 million home care workers, one of the fastest-growing occupations in the country. The White House has commented that “such a rule would eliminate a long time injustice for a large pool…

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Enacted in 1938, the FLSA provides certain minimum wage and overtime standards that apply to nearly all U.S. employers. The act covers areas such as child labor labor laws, minimum wage and overtime. Despite significant improvements in working conditions much work still needs to be done. In fact as noted in a previous overtime violations post, the number of overtime compensation violations has reached near epidemic proportions. The FLSA provides that all non-exempt workers must be received…

President Obama’s State of the Union Address included a call for an increase in the Federal minimum wage – placing a renewed emphasis on the critical issue of making ends meet for many working Americans. Obama has asked Congress to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour from $7.25/ hour, a move that could potentially affect millions of working Americans. Minimum wage earners – such as cooks, janitors, and aides to the elderly – often struggle to make ends meet. Such an increase could help reduce the widening gap…

News reports that the Department of Labor has begun an investigation into the working conditions at the popular clothing store Forever 21. The United States DOL Wage and Hour division announced that they have filed an action requiring Forever 21 to cooperate with the government’s investigation into the labor practices of the company. The clothing store has been under investigation for the last four years as the result of alleged labor violations. According to federal law under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workers must be paid minimum wage and those…

This year there’s been an ongoing debate in Congress concerning raising the federal minimum wage. The current federal minimum wage is just $7.25/hour with the minimum cash wage for tipped workers $2.13/hour. Further, because these amounts are not adjusted for inflation the amount minimum wage workers take home is becoming increasingly tight. In fact, single parent households making minimum wage with two kids falls thousands of dollars below the poverty line. Making matters worse, in certain situations employers may fail to pay workers the total amount of compensation they are…