Rhode Island Fair Labor Standards Act Attorney

All hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week are supposed to be paid at time and one-half, unless you are a domestic worker, supervisor, or "independent thinker," which is a person in charge of his or her own job. However, many employers willfully violate wage and hour laws to avoid paying overtime. Contacting a highly skilled Fair Labor Standards Act attorney can help ensure that your rights are protected.

One of the most common ways employers attempt to get around paying overtime is by misclassifying workers as supervisors or independent thinkers. For example, our lawyers represented a scheduler who was classified as an independent thinker by her employer, and therefore not eligible for overtime payments. In our lawsuit, we proved that the scheduler was eligible for overtime pay because she had a boss who told her what to do — and therefore shouldn't have been classified as an independent thinker.

Overtime pay is only one of the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This federal law also covers the payment of incentives and commissions, employee chargebacks, and unpaid wait time.

Unpaid wait time is any time that you are required to be at work before you are paid. For example, some companies require employees to show up 15 minutes before their shift begins to change into their work uniforms. Other employers expect employees to wear beepers or to be on call without compensation. In one case our lawyers handled, a bank employer expected an employee to log onto 14 different computer systems before her paid work shift began. All of these are examples of unpaid wait time and are illegal under federal law.

In many cases, violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act affect several employees at a company. Our lawyers can handle these cases as class action lawsuits to compensate all victims of wage and hour law violations.

Your rights are our number one priority. So please do not hesitate to contact a wage and hour attorney at the Law Offices of Stephen M. Robinson to schedule a free initial consultation.

Fair Labor Standards Act lawyers assisting clients in all of Rhode Island, including Providence, Cranston, Newport, Jamestown, North Kingstown, Barrington, Bristol, Pawtucket, Westerly, East Providence, Warwick, Wakefield, South Kingstown, East Greenwich, and Woonsocket.