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Overtime pay is an important, but often complicated, issue that employers and employees sometimes have to resolve. For employees, receiving overtime pay is compensation for being asked to work a significant number of hours. However, employers often attempt to find ways, either by legal or, in extreme cases, illegal means, to avoid having to pay overtime compensation.

General Overtime Information

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Illinois law, an employee is entitled to overtime pay when he or she works more than 40 hours in a single workweek. The workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours (seven consecutive 24-hour periods) and is defined by the employer. The workweek does not need to coincide with the calendar week. Instead, the workweek can begin on any day and at any time of the day. While the employer can make the workweek whatever he or she wishes, it is not permissible to average the number of hours worked over a period of two or more weeks.

Overtime pay is paid at a minimum of 150 percent of the employee’s hourly work rate (known as “time-and-a-half”) for the number of hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The FLSA does not place a maximum number of hours that an employee over the age of 16 may work in a workweek. Further, there is no provision for overtime pay for work performed on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays, unless work performed on those days results in exceeding the 40-hour rule. Generally, overtime pay is paid on the regular payday for the period in which the wages were earned.

The FLSA provides for several exemptions from the requirement of overtime pay. Exempt from overtime pay are executives, administrative, professional, computer, and outside sales employees who earn over $455 per week. Determining whether an employee fits under one of these categories can be complex and requires examination of the specific work the employee performs. Under Illinois law, other types of workers are also exempt, including, but not limited to:

1. - Any salesman or mechanic primarily engaged in the selling or servicing of automobiles, trucks or farm implements;
2. - Agricultural workers; and
3. - A crew member of any uninspected towing vessel operating in any navigable waters in or along the boundaries of Illinois.

An employee who believes that he or she is entitled to overtime pay can file a lawsuit claiming monetary damages or that requests an injunction that orders the employer to pay the overtime wages. If the employee’s lawsuit is successful, he or she may receive back-pay, as well as liquidated damages in an amount equal to the back-pay.

Help with Employment Issues

For more information or if you believe you have been improperly denied overtime pay, you should speak with an experienced Illinois employment law attorney with experience in employment law and overtime compensation. Our firm represents individuals throughout the northwest suburbs, including areas such as Arlington Heights, Palatine and Crystal Lake. 

About the Author: Attorney Ken Apicella is a founding partner of DGAA focusing in the areas of personal injury, employment, insurance coverage disputes, and civil litigation. Ken earned his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in 1999. He has been named a SuperLawyers Rising Star and a Forty Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch. Ken has written and lectured for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education and regularly serves as a moderator at Northwest Suburban Bar Association's Continuing Legal Education seminars.

American workers are facing a growing problem; their employers are failing to pay them overtime for extra hours that they worked. According to CNN, wage and hour claims have increased 400 percent in the last decade alone. Employers have a variety of tricks they can use to avoid paying employees the money they owe them. For instance, many employers improperly classify their workers as independent contractors, when they should actually be classified as employees.

This allows employers to subvert overtime laws and shift some of their tax burden to the worker. Employers can also avoid paying overtime by instituting improper policies to prevent employees from logging all of their hours. This can include such practices as forcing employees to clock out for lunches through which they work, making employees show up for work and then wait to clock in until later, or forcing workers to work from home without tracking their hours.

Fortunately, workers in Illinois have remedies available to them. Employees can bring suits for unpaid overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and under the Illinois Minimum Wage law. However, employees should know that both laws provide different limits on the amounts that they can recover from their employer.

The Fair Labor Standards Act

The FLSA is a federal law that protects workers from wage violations. If an employee brings a suit under the FLSA to recover overtime, they can receive overtime pay that the employer owes them from the past two years. That time period may increase to three years if the employee can prove that their employer willfully violated the statute.

A willful violation of the statute occurs if the employer “showed reckless disregard for the matter of whether their conduct violated the statute.” Additionally, in the case of such willful violations, the court may award “liquidated damages.” These extra damages can be as high as the initial amount of overtime owed, meaning the employee can receive twice the amount that the employer failed to pay them.

The Illinois Minimum Wage Law

Illinois also has a minimum wage law under which employees can sue in order to recover overtime pay. Employees can recover up to three years of back pay under this law, regardless of whether the employer willfully violated the law. However, suing under the Illinois law would deprive the employee of the opportunity to receive liquidated damages. Instead, the Illinois law provides for employees to receive two percent interest for each month that their employer owed them overtime.

Do you have questions about your employer’s overtime practices, or think you may be eligible for overtime pay that you never received? Reach out to a Rolling Meadows employment lawyer today. Our firm operates in many northwest suburban areas including Barrington, Crystal Lake, and Palatine.

About the Author: Attorney Ken Apicella is a founding partner of DGAA focusing in the areas of personal injury, employment, insurance coverage disputes, and civil litigation. Ken earned his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in 1999. He has been named a SuperLawyers Rising Star and a Forty Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch. Ken has written and lectured for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education and regularly serves as a moderator at Northwest Suburban Bar Association's Continuing Legal Education seminars.