Overtime Attorney in Jackson

Mississippi doesn’t have its own comprehensive employee protections, but a federal law called the Fair Labor Standards Act governs a variety of aspects of the employer-employee relationship, and applies to most Mississippi employees:

• Any employee of an enterprise engaged in interstate commerce which has gross receipts of at least $500,000 per year
• Any domestic worker who earns at least $1,700 per year or works at least eight hours per week
• Any employee of a hospital or other institution caring for the sick, aged, or mentally ill

Most FLSA violations are not as clear as having to work more than 40 hours but not get paid the premium for that extra five or 10 hours. The majority of Florida wage and hour violations — much like other types of violations — are subtle, and many employees have gone years being deprived of their well-earned cash because of that subtlety.

“Off-The-Clock” Work

Employees are supposed to be compensated for the entire time they are furthering their employer’s business, even if it exceeds 40 hours a week. Yet some employers require their employees to perform work either before clocking in or after clocking out. This can mean requiring you to do a variety of things, like clean up after your shift, travel through security checkpoints, traverse across a facility to a distant worksite, or putting on extensive safety equipment and uniforms before clocking in. Fifteen minutes of extra work a day might seem inconsequential, but that’s more than an hour a week, more than a week a year, and up to several months over the course of a career, all unpaid.

Misclassifying Employees

Many people think all salaried employees are exempt from overtime laws. This is, however, not the case. Bona fide managers, executives, professionals, and administrative workers who exercise their own judgment can be exempt, and have to work for more than 40 hours per week without receiving any extra pay or overtime. But other salaried employers might be entitled to extra pay or comp time if they work more hours. 

You should be paid fairly for the time you work. When employers abuse their position of power to take advantage of workers, our Jackson overtime attorneys at Morgan & Morgan know how to pursue justice for you.

If you believe your employer has wrongfully deprived you of overtime pay, contact us for a free case evaluation to have your situation evaluated by an experienced Jackson attorney.