An Age Old Problem Finally 'Hitting EVERYONE' in America!

Growing number of workers complain about being shortchanged

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One of the most common complaints is workers who fail to get overtime pay as required by law.


There’s a simple workplace axiom: You put in your hours and get paid for them. Alas, this doesn’t always happen.

There’s been a record spike in wage and hour violation claims by employees thanks to sustained tough economic times, an increase in enforcement by the government, and confusion over -- or disregard of -- overtime pay provisions

Seyfarth Shaw

Wage and hour lawsuits have been soaring, according to federal judicial caseload statistics.

Already this year, there have been a record number of lawsuits filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which covers wage and hour provisions, with 7,064 filed so far this year. That's up from 7,006 filed for all of 2011 and just 2,035 cases filed a decade ago, according to data compiled by employment law firm Seyfarth Shaw.

The Department of Labor's wage and hour division collected a record $224 million in back wages from employers in the latest fiscal year for more than 275,000 workers.

“Many workers still have a hard time taking advantage of their legal protections,” said Jeffrey Michael Hirsch, associate professor at the University of North Carolina’s law school and a contributing editor to the Workplace Prof Blog. “Low-wage employees, in particular, often don't earn enough to attract attorneys, although class actions might help in some cases, so you see a lot of cases of unremedied wage theft.” In those cases, he said, the Labor Department sometimes gets involved, especially to "send a message to employers."

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