By federal law, employers must pay their employees at least $7.25 per hour as minimum wage – that number hasn’t changed since 2009.

In Minnesota, though, the minimum wage is $9.86 per hour.  Because the state minimum wage is greater than federal minimum wage, Minnesota employees are entitled to the higher of the two – that is, Minnesota employees are entitled to be paid at least $9.86 per hour.

If your employer does not pay you at least $9.86 per hour, then it has violated the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act.  Sometimes these violations are easy to spot, such as if an employer tells you that your hourly wage is less than $9.86.

In Minneapolis, the minimum wage is even higher: $15 per hour.

But minimum wage violations also include off the clock work violations.  Sometimes employers require employees to perform work “off the clock.”  For example, your employer might tell you to:

• Be at work at least 10 minutes before the start of your shift, but don’t punch in until your shift starts;
• Put on certain equipment or your uniform before punching in – these are called “donning” claims;
• Take off your equipment or uniform while off the clock – these are called “doffing claims;
• Continue working off the clock at the end of your shift if you didn’t meet your performance goals for the day; or
• Tell you to come in on a weekend or early morning and work off the clock to meet performance goals.

All of this off the clock work could constitute minimum wage violations under both state and federal law.  To see if you have a claim, take the number of hours that you actually worked (not just the time that you were paid for on the clock) and divide it by your pay for the week.  If the number that you get is below $9.50, then you’ve got a minimum wage claim.

Even if you don’t have a minimum wage claim, you still have a breach of contract claim for hours worked off the clock.  You and your employer have a contract (it doesn’t have to be in writing) for you to be paid a certain wage for all hours worked.  If you’re working hours that your employer isn’t paying you for, then your employer has breached its employment agreement with you.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act says that employers need to pay employees time and half for all hours over 40 that they work in a week.

The Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act says that employers need to pay Minnesota employees time and half for all hours over 48 that they work in a week.

You’re entitled to the protection of both federal and state overtime law.  So if your employer isn’t paying you overtime for hours over 40, then you’ve got an overtime claim against your employer.

Sometimes these claims are easy to spot, like when your employer is just paying regular time even for hours worked over 40.

But you may also have overtime claims in cases of off the clock work.  If your employer is making you work off the clock, and your off the clock time combines with your on the clock time to bring you over 40 hours in a week, then your employer owes you overtime for those hours.  Off the clock time includes when your employer tells you to:

• Be at work at least 10 minutes before the start of your shift, but don’t punch in until your shift starts;
• Put on certain equipment or your uniform before punching in – these are called “donning” claims;
• Take off your equipment or uniform while off the clock – these are called “doffing claims;
• Continue working off the clock at the end of your shift if you didn’t meet your performance goals for the day; or
• Tell you to come in on a weekend or early morning and work off the clock to meet performance goals.

If your employer has made you work off the clock, then you may have an overtime claim.  To understand whether you have a claim, take the number of hours that you actually worked in a week (not just the hours that you were paid for).  If that number is greater than 40, then you likely have an unpaid overtime claim.

It’s true that certain jobs are considered “exempt” from overtime rules – that means that employers don’t need to pay overtime to “exempt” employees who work over 40 hours.  Jobs exempt from overtime pay include:

• Employees of certain seasonal amusement or recreational establishments (think: State Fair or carnivals);
• Employees of certain small newspapers;
• Farm workers employed on small farms;
• Babysitters;
• Highly compensated employees who do office work (or other non-manual work) and make $100,000 or more each year;
• Auto, truck, or farm salespersons and mechanics;
• Railroad and airline employees, taxi drivers, and certain employees of motor carriers; and
• “White collar” employees who perform management, administrative, or executive duties.

But employers often misclassify employees as salaried or exempt when they shouldn’t.  For example, some employers try to classify secretaries as exempt because they perform administrative work.  But for the administrative exception to apply, the employee’s primary duty must include the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance – most secretaries wouldn’t meet that test and therefore qualify for overtime pay.

If your employer misclassified you as a salaried employee or exempt employee, then you likely have a good overtime claim, because your employer owes you time and a half for all hours that you worked over 40.

To calculate your hourly rate, take your weekly salary and divide it by 40 – that’s your rate.  Your employer owes you time and half of that amount for all hours that you worked over 40.

Your employer is required by state and federal law to keep accurate records of all hours that you worked.

But, of course, sometimes employers don’t comply with the law, especially if they’re making employees work off the clock.

Of course it is fantastic evidence if you keep records of the hours that you worked off the clock – the more detailed the better.  If you can, keep a diary with the date, time you started work, and the time you ended.  That is very powerful evidence in a minimum wage or overtime case.

However, the law recognizes that most employees can’t do that and places the burden on employers to keep accurate records of hours worked by employees.  Therefore, when an employee can show that an employer’s records are not accurate – by testifying that employees had to work off the clock – then the law allows employees to estimate the amount of time they worked off the clock in their testimony and submit that to the jury.

Minnesota state law requires employers to provide employees working a shift of 4 hours or more sufficient time to use the restroom.  If the break is less than 20 minutes, your employer can’t require you to punch out for it – it must be compensated.

If you work a shift of 8 hours, your employer must provide you at least 30 minutes for a meal break.  That break, however, doesn’t need to be compensated like restroom breaks.

If your employer does not allow you to take restroom or meal breaks, you likely have a claim under the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Minnesota Payment of Wages Act prohibits employers from taking deductions from employees’ paychecks for: lost or stolen property, damage to property, or to recover any other claimed indebtedness.

Even if you have authorized the deduction, most such authorizations are void under Minnesota law.  The bottom line is that if your employer is taking money out of your paycheck, then you probably have a claim under the Minnesota Payment of Wages Act.

This is a common problem – so common that Minnesota law specifically addresses it.

If your employer won’t give you your last paycheck, the first thing you should do is send a letter or email asking for your last paycheck to your employer.  Make sure to put the date on the letter and sign it.  If possible, send it via certified mail so there’s a record of when your employer got it.

Your employer needs to pay you within 24 hours of receipt of the letter.  If it doesn’t, then it owes you those wages plus an extra day’s wages up to 15 days for every day it doesn’t pay as a penalty.

For minimum wage and overtime claims, you can get the actual amount that you’re owed in minimum wage and overtime, plus an equal amount as liquidated damages.  So you basically get twice the amount of actual damages that you’re owed.  Additionally, your employer will be required to pay your attorney fees and costs of litigation, plus interest on the amount of wages it owed you.

For unlawful deductions, you can get the actual amount of money deducted plus an equal amount in liquidated damages – so again, twice the amount of actual damages.  Also, if you win, your employer will be required to pay your attorney fees and costs of litigation, plus interest on the amount of deductions.

Under both state and federal law, the statute of limitations for unpaid overtime and minimum wage claims is 2 years; and 3 years if we can prove willfulness by your employer.  That basically means we need to show that your employer was reckless in disregarding the law – then we can go back 3 years for your damages.

No.  The Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act, the Minnesota Payment of Wages Act, and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act all  contain anti-retaliation provisions.  If your employer terminates you for making a report or complaint of unfair or improper pay practices, then you’ve got a retaliation case in addition to your unpaid wages case.

First of all, we’re sorry that you’re in this position.  We know how hard you work, and you deserve to be paid for all of the hard work you do for your employer.

Second, call us for a free consultation to talk about your case.