Wage Issues

+ Minimum Wage for Hourly Employees

In Oklahoma, employers must pay their employees at least the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25 per hour worked, up to forty hours per week.

This means an employee cannot be forced to work without pay, even for small amounts of time. Sometimes, employers require employees to arrive ahead of their shift start time, work through lunches, or respond to work-related emails during the evenings. This is allowed, so long as employees are compensated for that time. But, requiring an hourly employee to work without pay at any time is contrary to the law.

+ Salaried Employees

It is commonly believed that if an employee is paid by salary, then they are not entitled to overtime pay when they work in excess of forty hours during the workweek. This is true in many, but not all cases.

Employees must be paid overtime by their employers unless they are exempt as defined in statute. These exemptions include executive, administrative, professional, computer, highly paid, and outside sales exemptions. Salary pay is only one requirement in any exemption, but it is never the only requirement. Each exemption requires assessing an employee’s job duties to determine whether or not their job is exempt. This is something the Center for Employment Law can help you do.

When an employer mis-categorizes a job as exempt from overtime pay, the employee is entitled to recover at least the overtime rate of pay for hours worked within specific time limits. Many times, this is a large number of hours because the employee has worked for large amounts of time. The Center for Employment Law can help you through this process.

+ Withholding pay

Sometimes, employers fail to pay an employee amounts they have rightfully earned. There are many reasons an employer may want to do so, however Oklahoma law is very clear that employees are to be paid in regular intervals. After a termination of employment, the employee is to be paid on or before their next regular payday for hours worked. If your employer is not paying you, the Center for employment law can help you recover those wages.

+ Deductions

Deductions for state and federal taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and court-ordered garnishments are allowable for employers without any additional authorization. However, if your employer is deducting additional amounts from your paycheck without your permission, you may have a right to recover at least those amounts from your employer.

+ BENEFITS

If your employer has promised you benefits but has failed to provide those to you, you may have a claim to recover expenses you accrue as a result. For example, if you were promised health insurance but were never enrolled by your employer, especially if your paycheck was deducted for payments, you may be entitled to recover health care expenses you experience as a result of that failure.

When your employment ends, your employer is required to provide you with certain notices and cancellation periods for health insurance. If you have not received notice of your right to continuation coverage (also known as a COBRA notice), with instructions on getting such coverage, you may have a claim against your prior employer. At the Center for Employment Law, we can help you secure coverage and be made whole for your employer’s failure to comply with law.