Kentucky Employment Lawyer Blog

In a dispute that dates back to 1994, Kentucky employees of the Sullivan University System have been asking for overtime wages they feel they were denied. The employees are current and past high school representatives and admissions officers that present information regarding the university system to high school students. The U.S. Department of Labor was first alerted to the issue in 1994, but there was no legal action taken at the time. The Labor Department began reviewing the case again in 2007 and a lawsuit was filed in 2010. Sullivan has agreed to settle with about 150 employees by paying them overtime owed from 2007 to the present.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, addresses minimum wage and overtime standards for most private and public workers in the United States. It is enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor. According to FLSA, employees that work over 40 hours during a workweek are entitled to one-and-a-half times their pay for every extra hour worked. Workweeks can start on any day of the week, but must consist of seven consecutive days. The hours of two or more workweeks cannot be averaged to avoid overtime pay even if the employee is paid on a bi-weekly basis. The Sullivan employees worked an average of 2.2 hours of overtime each week, so they should have received one-and-a-half times their pay for those extra hours.

Sullivan University Systems claimed the employees involved in the lawsuit were exempt, which means they were not covered by the overtime portion of FLSA. Most companies that make less than $500,000 per year are not required to pay overtime, but schools of all types, including "institutions of higher education" must pay overtime regardless of their annual income. Certain types of employees are exempt from receiving overtime according to FLSA, a complete copy of which can be found on the U.S. Department of Labor website. Examples include executives, outside salespeople, certain professionals, newspaper delivery people, babysitters, workers on small farms, and people employed at sea. An attorney for Sullivan said the employees were treated as professionals, and were paid well, but the school agreed to re-classify them as non-exempt as part of the settlement. They will now be required to clock in and out and their base pay will be reduced to compensate for the overtime they receive, making their earnings the same.

The employees involved in the suit also claimed that proper records of their hours were not kept. According to Kentucky wage and hour laws,

Every employer subject to the provisions of the Kentucky Minimum Wage Law shall make and preserve records containing the following information:
(a) Name, address, and Social Security Number of each employee;
(b) Hours worked each day and each week by each employee;
(c) Regular hourly rate of pay;
(d) Overtime hourly rate of pay for hours in excess of forty hours in a workweek;
(e) Additions to cash wages at cost, or deductions (meals, board, lodging, etc.) from stipulated wages in the amount deducted, or at cost of the item for which deductions are made;
(f) Total wages paid for each workweek and date of payment.

These records do not need to be kept in a specific format, but employers must retain them for at least one year. Requiring the employees to clock in and out will at least provide Sullivan an accurate record of the hours worked by each employee.

Continue reading "Kentucky Employees to Receive Overtime Pay Due from Sullivan University" »

Last week, a federal judge approved a $2.33 million settlement in a state based on violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case Wilcox v. Alternative Entertainment, Inc. was litigated in the Western District of Wisconsin.

The employees were satellite installers who claimed the company failed to pay them overtime and further suffered from unlawful deductions from their pay. The class included over 900 employees in two states: Wisconsin and Michigan.

When certain employees works overtime, they may be entitled to pay at a rate of one and half times their typical hourly rate (or double time if they work particularly long hours). If you or someone in your family working overtime without being paid, you should talk with a wage and hour attorney about your rights.

A Tennessee federal court judge approved a $3 million class action settlement agreed to by Olan Mills Inc. and its employees.

The 18 class representatives worked for Olan Mills in Tennessee, California, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Michigan. Most of the class members were employed as studio photographers and paid on an hourly as opposed to a salary. The claimed that Olan Mills required them to work off the clock including before their shifts and after their shifts. In addition, the employees claim that the company failed to pay overtime, failed to allow employees rest and meal breaks, and failed to reimburse employees for expenses. These violations allegedly occurred between 2003 and 2009.

Continue reading "Olan Mills Pays $3 Million in FLSA Claim" »

Earlier this month, in the unpublished decision of Sparks v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, affirmed a jury verdict dismissing a former Wal-Mart employee's claims for unpaid wages.

The plaintiff, Sparks, worked as a pharmacist for Wal-Mart from June 1992 through December 2008. He was compensated based on a forty-five hour workweek, or ninety hours each two weeks. In 2006, he sued Wal-Mart alleging that they owed him nearly $30,000.00 in unpaid wages. He made additional claims for retaliation for filing a complaint with the Kentucky Department of Labor.

According to Sparks, Wal-Mart had paid him for only eighty-five hours each two weeks from November 2000 and September 2005. His manager realized the error and started paying Sparks 90 hours biweekly in 2005, but did not retroactively pay the difference in wages. Sparks filed suit for the five hours of unpaid wages during the November 2000 through September 2005 pay periods.

Sparks claimed that the common law theory of equitable estoppel prevented the megastore from now denying him the additional five hours of pay biweekly. Reviewing the elements of equitable estoppel, the court held that Sparks had not proved Wal-Mart had "knowledge, actual or constructive, of the real facts."

The court also reviewed several evidentiary rulings from the lower court and found in favor of Wal-Mart.

If you believe your employer has failed to properly pay you overtime pay or wages, you should speak to a wage and hour attorney.

Wage and hour attorneys are pleased with the proposed legislation by California Representative Linda Sanchez which will give more protection to home healthcare workers across the country, including Indiana and Kentucky.

Direct care workers are not currently covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal statutes which regulates the wages and hours of workers. Currently, "any employee employed on a casual basis in domestic service employment to provide babysitting services or any employee employed in domestic service employment to provide companionship services for individuals who (because of age or infirmity) are unable to care for themselves" is considered exempt from the law. The addition to the law, known as the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act will require workers to be paid at least minimum wage and overtime if they work at least twenty hours per week.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this is a very fast growing industry likely due to the rising numbers of Baby Boomers soon to be in need of in-home care.

If you believe that you have not been paid the required minimum wage or overtime, you should contact a wage and hour attorney to learn more about what remedies you have under the FLSA as well as Kentucky and Indiana law.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor released Fact Sheet #73 about Break Times for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("PPACA") went into effect on March 23, 2010 amending part of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Under this law, employers are required to provide "reasonable break time" to a non-exempt employee to express breast milk for up to a year following the child's birth. "Reasonable break time" is flexible and varies in frequency and duration according to the mother's needs.

Further, employers need to provide a private space other than a bathroom to shield the woman from coworkers and the public. Employers are not required to pay employees for the this break time unless the employer already provides compensated break time.

Continue reading "U.S. Department of Labor Provides Guidelines for Nursing Mothers" »

The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Louisville, Kentucky firefighters in their claim filed with the Kentucky Department of Labor--Wage and Hour Division to receive back pay from the Louisville Metro Government for unpaid overtime.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the Jefferson Circuit Court that found Louisville Metro Government in violation of the firefighters' contract by not adding incentive and longevity pay into calculations for overtime pay for a 15 year period.

The 800 firefighters could be entitled to receive $7.6 million plus interest for the government's violation. This amount is in addition to an award of $19.7 million received in a second action filed in Jefferson Circuit Court by Louisville firefighters covering a five year period.

For more information on this ruling read the Louisville Courier Journal article.

Continue reading "Louisville Kentucky Firefighters Entitled to Back Pay" »

As of today, July 24, 2009, the U.S. minimum wage will increase by 70 cents to $7.25 an hour. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, this is the third increase in the minimum wage in the last three years and this increase will affect between 3 million and 5 million workers. While many states have their own minimum wages that are already higher than the federal minimum wage and will thus not be affected by this increase, Kentucky and Indiana have both set their minimum wage to be the same as the federal minimum wage. Therefore employees in Kentucky and Indiana who earn the minimum wage will soon see an increase to their paychecks.

The previous federal minimum wage (and therefore the Kentucky and Indiana minimum wage) was $6.55 an hour. Therefore, employees in Kentucky and Indiana who receive the 70 cent an hour increase will receive an additional $28 per week (assuming a 40 hour work week). To see the minimum wage of other states you can visit the U.S. Department of Labor.

If you feel that you are not receiving the new minimum wage you can contact the Department of Workplace Standards of the Kentucky Labor Cabinet at (502) 564-3070 or contact an employment lawyer at Miller and Falkner.

While the hotel chain Motel 6 claims that they will "keep the light on" for its customers, it might be doing so at the expense of and without properly paying its employees.  That is what three employees of the Motel 6 chain in California have claimed in their lawsuit filed April 22, 2009.  In the complaint, the three employees allege that they were discriminated against and harassed, forced to skip breaks and work overtime without pay.  Specifically, the complaint stated that the motel is "understaffed to the point that employees were and are required to work through their rest and meal periods and are required to work, but are not paid, overtime."  A similar complaint was filed against the same hotel in December 2008 by four other employees with similar allegations against the hotel.

As the economic downturn continues, more and more employers will be laying off employees and relying on the remaining employees to cover the work.  Under Kentucky law, there are many protections for employees from unlawful employer practices. 

For Example:

No employer shall require any employee to work without a rest period of at least ten (10) minutes during each four (4) hours worked (except those employees who are under the Federal Railway Labor Act).  This rest period is in addition to the regularly scheduled lunch period.  Employers are also not allowed to take a reduction in pay for these rest and lunch periods. 

Many employers also are not allowed to employ an employee for a workweek longer than forty hours unless the employee receives compensation for their employment in excess of forty hours in a workweek at a rate of not less than one and one-half times the hourly rate employer.

It is important that you understand your rights as an employee.  For more information on Kentucky Wage and Hour Laws visit the Kentucky Department of Labor or contact a Wage and Hour attorney at Miller & Falkner.