What Is New Jersey’s Overtime Law?

If you have worked more than a certain number of hours in a week, and you are subject to the relevant laws, your employer must pay you for overtime. This is not as simple as just paying you extra for more time worked. There is a set of laws that your employer needs to follow when it comes to overtime. If they have violated it, they are subject to lawsuits under Federal and New Jersey law. It is possible to hold your employer accountable.

How You Are Paid Is a Matter of New Jersey and Federal Law

There are both state and federal laws in place that govern how you are paid by your employer. From a “federal” perspective, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides the rules that your employer must follow when it comes to things like overtime. On the “state” level, New Jersey has similar laws that substantially follow the FLSA. If your employer violates either law, they are subject to a lawsuit.

You Must Be Paid for Overtime

If you are not subject to an exemption from the FLSA, you must be paid time and a half for any hour that you work beyond 40 hours in a work week. The special time-and-a-half rate is applied to your regular hourly earnings. Note that overtime rules apply on a weekly and not daily basis. You do not get extra pay for working more than eight hours on any given day. You are not legally entitled to overtime if you are in one of the following categories:

• Executive, administrative, and professional employees who meet specific duties and salary tests.
• Outside sales employees.
• Certain agricultural workers.
• Some transportation workers.
• Independent contractors.

How Your Employer May Violate Overtime Laws

Of course, your employer violates overtime laws when they fail to pay you in this manner when you have worked more than 40 hours per week and are not exempt from the law. They may also commit violations that could allow you to file a lawsuit when they do the following:

• Misclassifying you as an independent contractor who is not subject to overtime rules.
• Paying you only your regular rate for overtime, or miscalculating your regular earnings to apply the time-and-a-half payment.
• Requiring you to work off the clock that would ordinarily be calculated time for which you are paid.
• Making illegal deductions from your overtime pay.

What Can I Do When My Employer Has Violated Overtime Laws?

You can take legal action when your employer has failed to pay you properly under New Jersey or federal law. Both statutes provide for a private right of action that allows you to file a lawsuit, seeking full compensation from your employer. You can file this lawsuit on an individual or class action basis. Typically, most wage and hour violations are filed as class action cases because there are numerous employees whose rights were violated in the same manner as yours.

A lawsuit will seek back pay on your behalf for what you should have been paid in overtime. Further, you may be able to recover lawyer’s fees to pay for the services that your lawyer provided. If your employer has been found to have willfully and knowingly violated wage and hour laws, you may even be entitled to triple damages. Not only would your employer need to give you back pay, but they can be ordered to pay you double the amount that you should have been rightfully paid in the first place, in addition to your overtime wages. This fact alone makes wage and hour lawsuits right for settlement agreements because your employer fears the consequences.

Contact our Hillsdale Wage and Hour Lawyers at Carcich O’Shea to Defend Your Workplace Rights

If your employer has violated the law in how they have paid you, speak to our Hillsdale wage and hour lawyers at Carcich O’Shea. To schedule an initial consultation, contact us online or call today at 201-988-1308. Located in Hackensack, New Jersey, we proudly serve clients in the surrounding areas.