Orange County Employment Lawyer

Overtime Basics

Overtime in an employment situation is an amount of time where an employee works beyond their normal working hours. What constitutes normal working hours differs for each occupational situation based on factors such as legislative regulation, practices of a given trade or profession, the stated agreement between employers and workers, and the particular customs of the culture in which the overtime occurs.

The United States has laws in place designed to dissuade employers from requiring excessive hours from their workers. Besides the humanitarian reach of the law, which protects individuals from excessive fatigue and exhaustion from continual working, the laws seek to keep employment at a high level for the economy. Additionally, laws require employers to pay their workers more money if they work overtime, at a rate of one and a half times their normal pay.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, a standard work week is considered to be forty hours. Two categories of employees, exempt and non-exempt, exist under this Act. Under law, employees are not required to pay exempt employees the overtime rate but must do so for non-exempt employees. Types of workers who are exempt include certain types of administrative, professional, and executive employees based on salary basis, level, and occupational duties. Other exempted workers include certain transportation employees, agricultural workers, contract workers, and outside salesmen. Current estimates state that out of approximately 120 million American workers, about 50 million are exempt from overtime pay.

If you have been working overtime and have been improperly paid, an experienced attorney can fight for your rights and money. contact the experienced Orange County employment lawyers at Perry Smith today at 888.356.2529 to discuss your situation.