Austin overtime retaliation attorneys

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed in 1938 to prevent workers from being exploited by unscrupulous businesses. It was the first act to establish a national minimum wage, as well as wage requirements for overtime work. The FLSA is periodically updated to reflect changing conditions.

Your Rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act

• In the state of Texas, the minimum wage is set to the standard set by the FLSA. Currently, the minimum wage is $6.55 an hour. In July of 2009, it will increase to $7.25 per hour.
• If you work overtime (defined as more than 40 hours in one work week), you are legally entitled to one and a half times your normal salary for every hour over 40.

Retaliation

Unfortunately some businesses will still try to get away with underpaying their employees. Even worse, when employees try to speak out against these unfair practices, some businesses will retaliate to punish them or intimidate them into silence. Common forms of retaliation include:

• Unfairly negative performance reviews, or unfair punishments
• Wrongful terminations
• Consistently undesirable assignments for no justifiable reason Threats or harassment
• Any behavior that would cause a reasonable person to withdraw his or her complaint

Because the line between unpleasant behavior and illegal retaliation is somewhat blurry, proving that your employer retaliated against you for raising wage/overtime issues may not be an easy task. For this reason, it is important that you consult an Austin employment lawyer immediately if you feel that your employer is violating the law.

Fighting Back

If you have been the victim of illegal practices at your workplace, contact the offices of Austin overtime retaliation attorneys Melton & Kumler at 513-330-0017.