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Are Your Hours and Pay Rate Correct on Your Paycheck?

Don't assume your paycheck is correct
When you go home at the end of a long work day, you should receive a paycheck that reflects how hard you work. It is important to review your paycheck and make sure it is accurate. A lawsuit against a Wal-Mart contractor is a case in point. Eight workers have filed a lawsuit in Chicago against a Wal-Mart contractor claiming the company violated state and federal labor laws because the company did not compensate employees according to promised hourly, piece rate and bonus pay rates.

One of the employees made a statement about their paycheck:

"I noticed after a couple of weeks that my checks didn't match my hours," said one of the workers, who also claimed he worked on a temp basis for years and sometimes worked over 50 hours a week. He said he was also cheated on overtime and was not compensated for what was often grueling work.

Your paycheck should reflect all the hours you work, plus overtime hours, and any bonuses. Calculating all this can get confusing, so if you feel something in your paycheck doesn't add up, contact our labor lawyers to help you find out if you have a wage or overtime claim with an employer. Employers find ways to cheat employees out of their hard-earned wages and, what's worse, many employees don't know the labor laws and have no idea they are being robbed of wages.

Read our article, Top 20 Overtime Scams That Make Your Boss Rich, to help you determine if you've been a victim of overtime scams.

Here are a few common overtime scams to be aware of:

• Your hours are averaged over two or more workweeks to determine overtime. If you work 50 hours one week and 30 hours the next (for an average of 40 hours per week), you are paid for 80 regular hours and no overtime. 
  Your employer doesn't keep track of your hours or does so in a sloppy manner that results in you getting shorted on your time. 
  You are periodically paid a "bonus" or something "extra" for working overtime, instead of being paid time and a half for each hour worked over 40 in a single workweek.
• Your bonuses, shift differential, commissions and/or other incentive pay are not included when calculating your overtime pay rate.

Our firm has extensive experience with common scams employers use to cheat employees out of wages.

Our employment lawyers have helped thousands of workers in cities across Texas, including:

Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, Arlington, Corpus Christi, Plano, Lubbock, Laredo, Amarillo, Pasadena, Brownsville, Grand Prairie, Mesquite, Abilene, Beaumont, Waco, Carrollton, McAllen, Midland, Richardson, Odessa, San Angelo, Killeen, Tyler, Denton, Longview, College Station, Baytown, Bryan, Sugar Land, Round Rock, Victoria, Port Arthur, Harlingen, and Galveston.