What to Do if You Have Been Denied Overtime Pay
You deserve to be paid fairly for your work, including overtime hours.
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employees, unless specifically exempted—such as managers, certain sales employees and professionals—must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours in a week.
The overtime rate must be one-and-one-half times your normal rate of pay. The FLSA also prohibits the overtime requirement from being waived, even by agreement of the employer and employee. Or more simply put, it is illegal for your boss to force or intimidate you into giving up your overtime pay, although a recent Supreme Court decision limited this condition for government employees.
The law does not set any limits on the number of hours workers older than 16 years can work during a week.
The overtime law is enforced by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. Your employer can be criminally charged for violating the overtime provisions of the FLSA, and it also is illegal for your employer to fire or discriminate against you for filing a complaint about an FLSA overtime violation.
There is a two-year statute of limitations on recovering back pay, unless the FLSA violation was deliberate and willful, in which case the statute of limitations is three years.
If you think you have been denied overtime pay, you can file a complaint with the nearest office of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Pennsylvania offices are as follows:
Philadelphia District Office
US Dept. of Labor
ESA Wage & Hour Division
US Custom House, Room 400
Second & Chestnut Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: (toll free) 1-866-487-9243
Pittsburgh District Office
US Dept. of Labor
ESA Wage & Hour Division
Federal Building
1000 Liberty Ave., Room 313
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Phone: (toll free) 1-866-487-9243
Wilkes Barre District Office
US Dept. of Labor
ESA Wage & Hour Division
7 North Wilkes Barre Blvd.
Stegmaier Bldg. Suite 373M
Wilkes Barre, PA 18702-5284
Phone: (toll free) 1-866-487-9243
A UNION CAN HELP YOU STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS
Few things in life can be as intimidating as standing up alone for your rights at work: some employers will say or do almost anything to avoid having to live up to their obligations under they law.
When you have a union at work, you don't have to stand up alone. Unions give you the power not to be intimidated when asking for what you are justly entitled to.
SHARE YOUR OVERTIME PAY STORY
Do you have a story about trying to get overtime pay in Pennsylvania? Send it to us.
By documenting cases of employer efforts to evade fair pay rules we can make the General Assembly face up to the problem.