In terms of employee pay in White Plains, New York, often times, employers get caught up in legal requirements that they were unaware of. For example, there are certain wage and reporting requirements in terms of keeping documentation and providing written notification to employees of their rate of pay as well as their overtime rate of pay, some employees are paid on an hourly basis and some are paid on a salaried or an annual basis and there is often a misconception that is you receive a straight salary that you are not entitled to overpay and that’s not always accurate. Employers need to understand that the wage and overtime laws are really very technical and very complicated in terms of who is entitled to over pay and who is not. A lot of time there are gray areas regarding whether a particular employee falls within the area of an exemption of the overtime laws or whether they are actually required to be paying that employee overtime. In the event that you are mistaken whether your mistake is intentional or inadvertent, you could be subjected to some serious fines from New York’s state department labor laws as well as the fairness labor standard act divisions in the form of what we call liquidated damages, you could be subjected also to paying the attorneys fees of the employee council, if that employee brings a successful claim against you for failure to pay overtime. If you have any doubt or question on whether or not you are required to pay a particular employee overtime, you should absolutely seek legal advice in order to determine that. Simple research can be done with specific cases to back up your analysis of the matter and determine with finality whether or not you are required to pay that employee overtime. Sometimes, overtime issues can span the life of six years, six years of failing to pay overtime can also subject you to a very large damage award at the end of the day. As I mentioned there is the liquidated damages and attorney fees provisions, so it’s really critical that you make sure you are complying with the wage and overtime laws. If you are having an employee work more than 40 hours a week or in certain circumstances 44 hours a week that are required to, then trigger those overtime provisions.
This informational blog post was provided by Kim Berg, an experienced White Plains, New York Employment Lawyer.
