dept of labor investigation - overtime

[ladejane]

Mississippi Gulf Coast

How can I get (or Will) Department of Labor to initiate investigation of business/owner who refuses to pay Overtime. Employees work anywhere from 12-25+ hours OT per week (paid bi-weekly 92-100+ hrs)
Along w/ working at this restaurant located on the beach, they also work numerous hours/days on owners property (a 3-story mansion on waterfront property) doing anything from yardwork, lanscaping to moving furniture, paint and repairs, etc.

No employee wants to file complaint due to fear of losing job. Can't class action suit be filed? Can uncollected OT compensation be collected?

Thank you

PS..My son has been an employee for over 8+ months. works 50-60 hrs OT/week

 

[Sinsaint26]

All you need to do is call the U.S. Department of Labor. So long as you are not a member of management and classified as salary you are entitled to overtime for any any hours worked over forty hours in one week (sixty hours one week and thirty the next means seventy hours straight pay and twenty hours OT).

About your fear of being terminated. For one thing it is illegal to terminate an employee for filing a complaint with a state agency. It is called retaliation and is prohibited by law. The second thing is, although you must give your name to the DOL when filing a complaint, they do not have have to tell your employer who filed the complaint. If there is a number of employees involved, your employer is going to be hard pressed as to figuring out which one of you filed the complaint. Their only option would be to fire all of you and that will just make them look that much more guilty. You should feel safe filing a complaint, as it is your right under federal law. You should try to figure out how many hours OT you worked so if the DOL does find a violation they will now how much money needs to be paid to rectify the situation.

Filing a class action suit is more trouble that it's worth. You end up paying the attorney the majority of the money and what little is left over will be split evenly among all the litigants. Your best bet is to let the DOL sort it all out. They will figure out how much is owed and if the money isn't paid, you can file a lawsuit. When you win, your employer has to pay your attorney's fees and you get all your owed wages, if it comes to that. More than likely your employer will see the error in their ways and just hand over all the back due wages.

 

[cbg]

The only correction I have to Sinsaint's response is that you should contact the state DOL, not the US DOL.