Minnesota Employment Law Attorney
Employer don’t always pay their staff correctly. Sometimes it’s a malicious scheme, often, it’s businesses who just don’t understand the law and are doing it wrong. Either way, it’s important for the mistake to be corrected as soon as possible. Not just to win the rightful wages of those who report the slight, but also for all employees in the past, present, and future who fared mistreatment without correction.
If you have been misclassified or otherwise denied your lawful wages, tips, or benefits then a Minneapolis employee misclassification lawyer can help. Here are six different situations where an employment law attorney can help you most:
You Have Been Misclassified as ‘Exempt’ from Overtime Pay
Exempt and non-exempt employees are the main focus of most employment law. Most employees are non-exempt and are subject to all general federal and state employment laws. Exempt employees are those who have a certain amount of personal freedom to decide their actions, their schedule, and their daily tasks so long as their projects, clients, and deadlines are all taken care of on time. In balance, they are given a guaranteed salary and are not paid overtime.
If you don’t have that freedom, you are not exempt and no fancy title or salary can make up for that freedom. Employees without the privileges of exemption are owed overtime pay.
You Have Been Denied Rightful Overtime Pay
Non-exempt employees are required to be paid time and a half (1.5x) regular salary for all hours worked over 40 a week. If you are non-exempt, then you are owed that much ever time you work more than 40 hours a week. Keep a careful record of your working hours, including the times you clock in and out for break. Breaks under 20 minutes should be paid while breaks over 20 minutes with freedom to handle personal matters should be clocked out.
If your overtime is being denied or overlooked, you can take legal action to attain it. Employers are not permitted to take action against you for requesting your overtime pay or taking action to get it.
You are Paid as a Contractor but Work as an Employee
Some employer classify employees as contractors in order to avoid paying social security and providing benefits. This is most common for remote or telecommuting employees but has been seen even with in-office positions as well. If you are paid as a contractor but your employer exercises direct control over your time, tasks, and activities then you may legally be an employee and have claim to overtime pay and benefits.
Your Employer Has Been Taking Your Tips
Minnesota law protects employees who earn tips as part of their wages. In fact, tips are not allowed to be considered part of your wages. Tip earning professionals must be paid the full state minimum wage and allowed to keep their tips. Any pay given as a tip or service fee is required to be given in whole to the person who directly served the customers. Employers are not allowed to credit your wages with a portion of your tips. They are not allowed to take your tips, or require you to share your tips. If they are, you should speak to a Minneapolis employment lawyer.
Your Employer is Not Sharing a Mandatory Service Fee
Many businesses charge a mandatory service fee, assumably to pay out among the people who served the customer. It is usually then up to the employers to decide how to divide or whether to even share this fee. In some state, employers can share out the fee and use it as a tax credit as tips. In Minnesota, sharing a service fee is required to be counted as additional wages. It is also mandatory to pay the service fee to servers and delivery persons unless there is written in a notice to the customer that it will not go to their personal servers.
Your Tips Are Being Pooled Against Your Will
Finally, employers are not allowed to forcer service staff to pool or share their tips. Staff are allowed to voluntarily pool or share tips, and employers are allowed to help them. But any mandatory sharing is against the rules. If you are being forced to share your tips, even if everyone else does and you don’t want to, this is illegal and a Minneapolis employment lawyer can help.
For more about how a Minneapolis employment and misclassification lawyer can help you, contact us today. Our legal team is ready to listen to your dilemma, protect you from retaliation, and help you use the law to get your rightful pay.
Disclaimer: The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individualsituation. We invite you to contact us and welcome your calls, letters and electronic mail. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send any confidential information to us until such time as an attorney-client relationship has been established.