What Are the Possible Remedies if I File a Claim Under the FLSA?

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) governs a range of employment-related laws in South Florida, particularly those related to wage and hour laws. While some states have state-specific laws that provide employees with greater protections than those provided under the FLSA, the FLSA is the applicable law for most cases in Florida involving wage and hour law matters. Under the FLSA, employers in Florida must ensure that employees are properly identified as exempt or non-exempt, and they must ensure that employees (as opposed to independent contractors) are properly classified as such.

Under the FLSA, non-exempt employees are entitled to receive at least the minimum wage ($13.00 per hour in Florida), which means that employers cannot make even lawful deductions from an employee’s paycheck that result in the employee earning less than the minimum wage. In addition, non-exempt employees must be paid an overtime rate of 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for any hours worked over a 40-hour workweek. If an employer violates your rights as a non-exempt employee, what are the possible remedies you can seek under the FLSA? Consider the following information from our Palm Beach Gardens wage and hour lawyers.

Back Wages 

Back wages, or back pay, is the most common remedy that an employee can receive by filing an FLSA claim. Back wages include any amount of wages that you were owed originally and were not paid, such as unpaid overtime hours or unpaid minimum wage.

Liquidated Damages 

Next, employees who file FLSA claims can usually be eligible to receive liquidated damages. Liquidated damages are a specific amount that is required to be paid in the event of a contract or other legal violation. For FLSA violations, liquidated damages are paid in an “equal amount” to the back wages the employee is owed.

Filing a Claim Before the Statute of Limitations Runs Out 

Generally speaking, FLSA claims have a two-year statute of limitations if you want to be eligible to obtain back pay or liquidated damages. The clock starts to tick on the date of the legal “injury,” meaning the date that you should have received certain wages and were not properly paid. In cases involving an employer’s willful violation of the FLSA, the statute of limitations increases to three years, but you should never assume you have additional time. You should discuss your case with a lawyer as soon as possible, operating from the assumption that you must file a claim before the two-year statute of limitations runs out.

Contact a Palm Beach Gardens Wage and Hour Law Attorney 

If your employer violated your rights under the FLSA concerning minimum wage or overtime pay, or if your employer misclassified you as an exempt employee in order to avoid paying you a certain rate, you may be able to file a claim under the FLSA. As we have discussed above, there are various remedies you may be eligible to receive if you can prove that your employer violated the FLSA, and the precise remedy or remedies in your situation will typically be based on the specific facts of your case. To find out more about your options, you should contact one of the experienced Palm Beach Gardens wage and hour law attorneys at Sconzo Law Office. We can speak with you today about your FLSA claim and your options for seeking a remedy.

Source:

dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/handy-reference-guide-flsa#:~:text=Enforcement%20Through%20Legal%20Remedies,wage%20and%20overtime%20violations%20exist.