Award-winning Michigan personal injury lawyer and the managing partner and lead trial attorney at Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C.
When a colleague’s law firm was successfully sued by a former paralegal for unpaid overtime, I immediately began investigating whether my firm was violating state or federal overtime pay laws. The last thing that I needed was to defend a federal wage loss claim.
I learned that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law that deals with overtime pay requirements. Although not every law firm may fall under this act, if the firm has two or more employees and grosses at least $500,000 per year, it should assume that it’s covered by the FLSA. Firms that engage in interstate commerce may also fall within the act. It’s best to assume that your firm is covered by the FLSA and act accordingly to avoid a lawsuit and potential penalties in the future.
What You Should Know About the FLSA
Certain employees are exempt from the FLSA, meaning that overtime pay is not required based upon the position and job classification. For example, overtime pay is not required for attorneys and may not be required for office managers or administrators, but that depends on the manager’s specific job duties. Employees like paralegals, secretaries, and other support staff are generally covered under the act, which means that overtime pay is required when they do work that exceeds the 40-hour workweek.
Overtime pay is calculated at one and a half times an employee’s regularly hourly rate of pay for every hour worked in excess in a 40-hour workweek. Salaried employees can be entitled to overtime pay if they are not considered exempt under the statute. Many businesses, including law firms, mistakenly believe that overtime laws only apply to hourly employees. Temporary employees, including attorneys, may also be entitled to overtime pay depending on the work being performed for the firm.
What Constitutes Extra Work?
Further, if employees are required to report to work early or stay after hours to finish a project, then overtime pay must most likely be paid. If the firm requires employees to answer emails and phone calls after hours, this could easily add up to be in excess of the regular 40-hour workweek. Finally, after-hours meetings and travel for work after the work day are both considered towards the total hourly workweek.
Under federal law, the employer must keep accurate records of employee work hours. Without these written records, the employee will generally win the case. To protect my firm from potential overtime claims, I immediately purchased a web-based software program for all non-attorney staff to sign in and out of work every single day.
