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What Can I Do When My Employer is Ripping Me Off?
There’s so many different ways that an employer can take advantage of an employee – that is why if your think you’ve been ripped off you should speak with a wage and hour lawyer in Rochester, NY trusts that can offer you a free consultation on your rights. Wage and Hour Laws in New York differ from elsewhere in the country and some of the statutes go back as long as six years to recovery wages under New York Laws, in addition to Federal Laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that can go back three years.
Wage and hour laws involve whether you are paid correctly under the law, as a Rochester wage and hour lawyer can explain. For example, unless there is a qualified exemption under the law, an employer needs to pay you for overtime at time and half for hours worked over 40 hours per week. In addition, under New York overtime laws if you work over ten hours in one day, the employer is mandated to pay an additional hour of pay for that day called spread of hours pays. If an employer violates New York overtime laws or minimum wages laws they could owe you double damages plus attorney fees.
A few more areas of law in the employment realm are whistleblower, also known as qui tam laws, which involve blowing the whistle on illegal activity, wrongful termination, discrimination, and sexual harassment. New York is an at-will employment state meaning that absent an employment contract an employer can fire an employee for almost any reason as long as it’s not a prohibited reason, such as whistleblower retaliation, or based on race, gender, orientation or other protected characteristics. There are also some other laws involving ERISA and the hiring process FCRA where an employer can not improperly run a credit report on you pre-hiring without your proper authorization.
Most Rochester, NY wage and hour lawyers and employment law firms that are selective in their cases will generally handle litigation on a contingency basis, which means they are only paid if they win your case. On the other hand, most employment law firms charge as a service to review severance agreements, since you are asking the attorney to review a document and give you an opinion and there is not litigation where you can recover money.
It is important not to threaten your employer if you think you’ve been treated unfairly. Many cases come to wage and hour law firms after the employee threatens to commence an overtime lawsuit, but before consulting with an employment or wage and hour lawyer in Rochester, NY. Anything you say can possibly hurt your case, and thing you leave out when confronting an employer can damage your case as well. Plus, the employer will have a headstart in defending your potential overtime litigation, so you should prepare your plan of attack in advance as well.
Some of the employment laws may seem incredibly unfair. And you may not even know the extent of the violation or the heart of your case until you take advantage of a free employment consultation. If you’re wondering about your rights its best to consult with a wage and hour lawyer Rochester, NY turns to from Brown, LLC who can advise you of your rights.