Employer has never paid my husband overtime hours, what can we do?

Question

My husband has worked for a restaurant for over 10 years, several times he has worked 2 months straight without any days off and a lot of times working double shifts and has never once been paid overtime. They have even shorted him hours many times as well. My husband isn't one to complain because he mostly relies on tips anyway and isn't one for confrontation but I feel this is a crock. They laid the entire staff off for almost two months while they opened up a new location and had some of the staff come back to prepare for the opening ( about two weeks of work) and did not pay any of them anything at all. Now having him work 80 plus hours a week with no overtime. Most of the staff are working overtime but he is working the most since he is one with most experience.
What can we do so that he will get paid what he is supposed to by law but where they won't find out about him and fire him for complaining? Please help!

Thanks Josh but I never said he was a server.

Answer 1

Overtime is paid based on anything over 8 hours a day or more than 40 hours a week. If he has not been getting that then he can file a complaint with the labor board to recover what he is entitled to. They will call in both parties to the complaint and take statements and you will get your answer within a couple of weeks of the hearing.

Answer 2

Overtime doesn't work the same way in restaurants where servers are paid less than minimum wage and compensated by their tips. Overtime for a server would be about $1.25 extra at the most which would only make about $30 difference in his paycheck after taxes IF he actually is 80 hours per week, which he's not, at least not every week. Also keep in mind that when he claims his cash tips, though he is supposed to he claims no where near 100%, just like any other server and is making way more money tax free that way than if he were getting paid overtime. Also, if he hasn't been promoted from waiting tables to at least a shift supervisor in over 10 years then I wager missing some overtime is the least of his worries at work.

EDIT: If he's not a server then why does he get tips? Even if he's not then everything I said still applies, since if he lives mostly on his tips he's paid less than minimum wage.

Answer 3

you say your husband isn't a server - is he a manager? if he's truly a manager, he may be exempt, which means that he does not have to be paid overtime.

assuming he is non-exempt, you have to contact your local wage & hour agency, as others have mentioned. the specifics depend on the law in your state - for instance one person said that you get overtime after 8 hours in a day - that's true in California but not in most states. usually you just get OT after 40 hours per week. however, i imagine that most states have laws against retaliation for making a wage claim - which would give him some protection if they tried to fire him for complaining. in any event, you can ask the agency if they will investigate and keep it anonymous.

Answer 4

You probably can't collect on it IF your husband is in management. They don't have to pay him overtime if he is management.
However, you should indeed contact your local Wages and Hours office. You can get their information from either the phone book OR from your local Employment Office.

Answer 5

contact state dept of labor and file claim thru them