FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Workplace Fairness Provides Information about Overtime Rules in Support of Long-Overdue Update
Organization has facts and resources on overtime rules and related issues for all employees, employers, employment lawyers and workplace equality advocates
SILVER SPRING, Md. (Sept. 2, 2015) Recently, the Department of Labor proposed a long-overdue update to the overtime rules. With this proposal, five million white-collar workers are expected to benefit from working overtime. To keep the public informed about the latest changes as well as existing wage and hour law, Workplace Fairness provides detailed information about the legal standards applicable to overtime exemptions, unpaid wages and independent contractors. For those who have questions about their rights or need to take legal action on a wage and hour claim, Workplace Fairness presents our Filing a Wage & Hour Claim page, in which workers will find applicable laws in all 50 states.
Our Overtime Exemptions section clarifies whether or not you are eligible for overtime and guides you what to do when your employer is not paying you accurately. In this section, we do our best to clarify this complicated subject for you by providing frequently asked questions as well as common scenarios:
- What does being "Exempt" mean?
- What does it mean to be paid on a "salary basis?"
- I own 25 percent of a design business, but one of many partners makes all of the decisions about hiring and firing. Am I considered an executive?
In our Unpaid Wages section, we hope to relieve your stress associated with wage theft, shorted hours and unlawful deductions. Our page includes frequently asked questions such as:
- My employer hasn't given me a paycheck for the hours I have worked. What should I do?
- My employer is not paying me overtime, what should I do?
Our Independent Contractors page highlights the importance of following the laws that distinguish between an employee and an independent contractor, incorporating the guidance released by the Department of Labor in July 2015. This page includes questions such as:
- What is the difference between being an independent contactor and an employee?
- Can employers just decide that I am an independent contactor so that they don't have to pay my taxes, wages and benefits?
- Why does the IRS care whether I am an employee or an independent contactor?
For those who seek to contact the Department of Labor with wage and hour complaints, visit our Filing a Wage & Hour Claim page. This page contains detailed information regarding potential violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. To learn more about this proposal, please see Workplace Fairness legal intern Erik Idoni's blog article, Changes to Overtime Rules Getting Closer: Act Now! For a more in-depth look at our services, take a look at our full website.
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About Workplace Fairness
Workplace Fairness is a nonprofit organization that provides information, education and assistance to individual workers and their advocates nationwide and promotes public policies that advance employee rights.
Our goals are that workers and their advocates are educated about workplace rights and options for resolving workplace problems and those policymakers, members of the business community and the public at large view the fair treatment of workers as both good business practice and sound public policy.
Workplace Fairness works toward these goals by:
- making comprehensive information about workers' rights free of legal jargon readily available to workers and to advocates and organizations that assist workers;
- providing resources to support the work of legal services organizations, community-based organizations, law schools and private attorneys that provide free legal information and services to low-income workers;
- presenting the employee perspective in publications, policy debates & public discussion.
The award-winning Workplace Fairness website, www.workplacefairness.org, has newly updated information throughout the site, as part of the Web's most comprehensive resource educating workers about their legal rights in the workplace.
Media Contact:
Paula Brantner
Executive Director
240-772-1205
paula@workplacefairness.org
www.workplacefairness.org