New Jersey Unpaid Overtime Lawyer

Overtime is not a gift from your employer. If you work more than 40 hours in a given work week and are not specifically exempt from the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law, then your employer is required to give you time-and-a-half for any additional hours worked. That is the law. And if your employer fails to follow the law, you have the right to take legal action.

An experienced New Jersey unpaid overtime lawyer can help. At Poulos LoPiccolo, we represent clients who have not been paid the overtime they are owed under the law. New Jersey law provides serious penalties–including liquidated damages for workers–for employers who try to skirt their overtime obligations.

Know Your Rights to Overtime in New Jersey

New Jersey law states that a non-exempt employee is entitled to overtime pay of 1.5 times their hourly wage for each hour worked over 40 in a given 7-day workweek. For example, if you normally make $15 an hour, then your overtime rate would be 1.5 times that amount, or $22.50 per hour.

Certain employees are exempt from this overtime pay rule. For instance, employees who work in bona fide executive, administrative, professional, and outside sales jobs are considered exempt. Certain tipped employees and people working in a hotel or as limousine drivers are also exempt. But the burden is on your employer to claim and prove that you are exempt. By default, most hourly workers are presumed to be non-exempt and thus entitled to overtime pay.

One way that some employers try to avoid their overtime pay obligations is to misclassify an employee. For example, the employer might falsely claim that an employee is really a “supervisor” and thus an exempt administrative worker. Or the employer may argue the employee is actually an “independent contractor,” who is not eligible for overtime pay at all. By working with a skilled unpaid overtime lawyer, you can put yourself in a better position to combat such misclassification schemes.

Your employer is also required to pay you at least twice per month on regularly designated paydays. At each payday you are entitled to receive a statement that includes any overtime hours worked and your applicable overtime rate. This means your employer cannot delay or try to cover up the fact that you are owed overtime for a given pay period.