Please help!
Dear Mel,
For two years I worked for a company ten hours a day five days a week. I was payed overtime for hours worked over fifty not over forty like the law states. Is there something that I missed or should I go ahead with filling out the overtime claim form from the Depatment of Labor? Thanks
Answers (1)
Overtime Exemptions
There are some obscure exceptions and permutations to overtime pay requirements, but this does not sound like one of them. In most areas of the country, paying anyone on an hourly basis destroys any possible exemption, but not here in Illinois. There is a possibility that a court would find you exempt from receiving that overtime for the 40-50 hours you worked every week. In any case, it can't hurt to file with the DOL. If you use an attorney and file in feeral court, though, you could ask for up to 3 years back and for double "liquidated" damages, which the DOL typically does not pursue. It would probably take a little more research, though, before an attorney takes the case to determine whether there is not one of those abovementioned obscure exemptions.
posted by Alejandro Caffarelli | Apr 2, 2004 08:43 AM [EST]
There are some obscure exceptions and permutations to overtime pay requirements, but this does not sound like one of them. In most areas of the country, paying anyone on an hourly basis destroys any possible exemption, but not here in Illinois. There is a possibility that a court would find you exempt from receiving that overtime for the 40-50 hours you worked every week. In any case, it can't hurt to file with the DOL. If you use an attorney and file in feeral court, though, you could ask for up to 3 years back and for double "liquidated" damages, which the DOL typically does not pursue. It would probably take a little more research, though, before an attorney takes the case to determine whether there is not one of those abovementioned obscure exemptions.
posted by Alejandro Caffarelli | Apr 2, 2004 08:43 AM [EST]
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