Are you entitled to overtime as a professional office worker?

Whether you are a retail sales associate working for a large corporation or a service professional employed at a small, local company, you should be covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

But unfortunately, as our Houston, Texas overtime attorneys have seen, many people are unaware of their rights. If their bosses or employers tell them that they are ineligible for overtime, they accept it. This could be because they are afraid of losing their jobs or because they assume that their employers know best.

Not finding out for yourself whether or not you are entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, could mean the loss of hundreds or even thousands of dollars from your paycheck.

Those employees who work in professional offices in Houston can struggle with overtime compensation. The FLSA protects the offices that are locally owned with only a handful of employees as well as the larger corporations that may have more than one location or office.

Those working in professional offices are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which means they are entitled to overtime in two instances:

1. The annual volume of sales is at least $500,000, whether the sales come from one enterprise or more than one enterprise in the company.

1. If the annual volume of sales is less than $500,000, employees may still be covered under the FLSA individually if the work they perform causes them to engage in interstate commerce, the production of goods for interstate commerce, or another closely related occupation to interstate commerce or production.

Even though the FLSA has clear, strict guidelines for who is covered, there are still times when employers violate these rules. Some of the common problems that arise from these violations within a professional office setting include:

• Employees are paid an incorrect annual salary and not paid time and a half of their hourly wage for the hours over 40 that they have worked in one week.

• Employees do not receive pay for the hours they work at home, or the hours they work at home do not count towards overtime.

• Employees are not paid for all of the hours that they work, including during their lunch break, when they arrive early, or when they stay late.

If any of the above scenarios applies to you and you think that your paycheck has been affected, it is imperative to contact an experienced Texas attorney who helps professional workers. Contact Kennedy Hodges for your free copy of Ten Biggest Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Wage and Overtime Claim. Call 888.449.2068 today, or fill out our online form to have an attorney contact you immediately.