Hermann Law Our Blog

Subscribe
Visit Blog
By: Herrmann Law

Blog Authors

DREW N. HERRMANN

Latest from Hermann Law Our Blog

Virginia Enacts Pro-Worker Overtime Law for Salaried Employees In 2020 Virginia amended its Wage Theft Law, which we wrote about here. This year, to further bolster employee’s rights to be paid a fair wage, Virginia recently enacted a new law called the Virginia Overtime Wage Act (“VOWA”). In most respects, Virginia’s new law is similar to other overtime laws across the country and similar to federal law with respect to overtime. For example, under the…
Colorado Says Vacation Pay Must Be Paid Upon Employee Separation Colorado recently joined a growing list of states and localities that mandate employees must be paid the equivalent of their wages for earned-but-unused vacation days when an employee separates from employment. The decision was made by the Colorado Supreme Court in the case of Nieto v. Clark’s Market, Case No. 19S553 (Colo. Supreme Court June 14, 2021). Most states do not mandate that employers…
iStock-1226290983 (1)
New Sexual Harassment Laws  The Texas Legislature has recently passed two laws modifying and enhancing protections for workers with respect to sexual harassment in the workplace. The new laws are effective as of September 1, 2021. Tex. Lab. Code, §§ 21.201(g) and 201.202(a-1). Of particular importance are these provisions: Small employers — even those with only one employee — will now be required to comply with Texas anti-sexual harassment laws including being required to provide…
Beyond the right to be paid and paid fairly, workers have many other rights that are provided and protected by statutes, regulations, and court precedent. For example, under safety statutes and regulations, workers have a right to work in an environment that is reasonably safe and hazard-free. Likewise, workers have a right to work in an environment that is free from harassment and discrimination. Biometrics and Workplace Privacy Rights Workers also have privacy…
Pay Equity Laws are a Growing Trend Among States Generally, in the United States, your employer must pay the same compensation — including wages/salary, benefits and bonuses — for the same work regardless of gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability or other protected characteristics. These general protections for equal pay are provided by federal law. In order to strengthen protection for workers, most states have enacted “equal pay”…
Illegal Wage Theft: Four Common Schemes Illegal wage theft happens when employees do not get ALL of their earned wages. As reported in Teen Vogue and GQ Magazine, studies have shown that millions of workers suffer some form of wage theft every year. A 2017 study estimated the number to be 2.4 million workers for a total loss of $8 billion in worker wages every year, and that study evaluated wage theft in only…
Wage theft by employers is illegal. Wage theft is prohibited by federal law and several states have enacted additional state laws that are designed to further prevent and stop wage theft. Employers can and are punished for engaging in wage theft, even if the wage theft is “accidental.” Wage theft is illegal in all 50 states under federal law. Illinois Wage Law Increases Punishment for Wage Theft Recently, various states across the country (Virginia…
Overtime Pay is Generally Required Under federal labor laws, most employees are entitled to be paid the federal minimum wage (which is currently $7.25 an hour). Furthermore, most employees are entitled to be paid overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a week (your employer cannot avoid paying overtime by merely paying workers a salary). The overtime rate is equal to time and one-half the regular rate of pay. Most state and…
Calculating Overtime Pay If you received any sort of bonus payment from your employer, it is possible that your employer failed to pay you the correct amount of overtime. It is common for employers to incorrectly calculate an employee’s rate of pay for purposes of calculating overtime pay. When calculating an employee’s overtime rate, all compensation (e.g. bonuses, commission payments, reimbursements, inventive payments, pier diems, and any other type of compensation) generally must…
What is a Private Right of Action? A “private right of action” is a legal term meaning that an individual rather than a governmental agency has the right to bring a lawsuit to prosecute and punish violation of rights conferred by a statute. Having a private right of action is important to workers. It means that an employee can sue his or her employer directly for wage and hour violations. For example, if your employer…