The US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division receives numerous complaints each year from employees who have been wrongfully denied overtime pay. While some employers unintentionally violate federal overtime law, others willfully deny eligible workers overtime pay. Using common overtime scams, employers cheat their workers out of time and a half overtime compensation. Fortunately, many common overtime scams have been identified so that workers can fully understand their rights to overtime.

A common overtime scam, working “after hours” occurs when an employer forces an employee to work without clocking in. For example, an employer may instruct a worker to clock out and remain on the premises to complete tasks that should have been completed for the day. In another example, an employer may require its employees to work weekends without clocking in. In general, workers can identify and avoid this common overtime scam if they understand that time spent working for an employer should be counted as hours worked for purposes of calculating overtime pay, regardless of whether the employer wants them to. the worker is “on time”.

Employee misclassification is another common overtime scam. Misclassification occurs when an employer intentionally misclassifies a worker in an exempt category; they trick the worker into thinking that her job title makes her ineligible for overtime pay. However, federal overtime law states that an employee’s job duties, not her job title, are the primary factor in determining who can receive overtime pay.

For example, employee misclassification commonly occurs when an employer labels a worker as an “independent contractor” to avoid paying overtime. However, if the worker does not meet the independent contractor test, he or she may be eligible to collect overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a single workweek. Another common example of employee misclassification is labeling workers as “managers” without allowing these employees the opportunity to perform managerial tasks.

Paying full time instead of time and a half compensation is another common overtime scam. Federal overtime law states that non-exempt employees must be paid 1.5 times their regular rate when they work more than 40 hours in a single work week. For example, if an employee is normally paid $8 per hour, she should receive $12 for each hour overtime. Paying non-exempt workers less than 1.5 times their regular overtime rate is a violation of the overtime law.

These are the most common forms of overtime scams. Other scams include rescheduling (not including short breaks in an employee’s total hours worked) and providing “compensation” time in lieu of overtime pay. By educating yourself about the basics of overtime law, you can make sure you don’t fall victim to an overtime scam.