Wage and Hour Violations

In the first of Green Savits' answers to Frequently Asked Questions, we address whether employers can force employees to work overtime.

Employees who contact us often complain that their employer is forcing them to work long hours and ask whether mandatory overtime is legal. The answer is, generally, yes. In New Jersey, employees are considered “at-will,” which means that your employer can require you to work more than 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day and terminate you if you refuse to do so unless:

In Part I of this article, I explained how employers can legally pay servers $2.13 per hour and then use servers’ tips in order to make up the difference between that rate and minimum wage. However, in order to take advantage of what amounts to legal wage theft, employers have to abide by certain requirements.

            Most people are aware of today’s fight over the minimum wage.  Although the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for many years now, Congress will not allow an increase.  Because of this, President Obama took executive action to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 per hour.  States have taken it upon themselves to raise the minimum wage.  New Jersey voted in 2014 to raise its minimum wage to $8.25 per hour and indexed it to inflation which is why it now stands at $8.38.  I think that most people would agree that $7.25 or $8.38 or even $10.10

This past Sunday, as I watched the Dallas Cowboys gain momentum and come back against the Detroit Lions, I was more than distracted by what I recently learned about how the NFL teams treat their cheerleaders. These women cheer for their team during games, practice for hours in the days leading up to games, attend public appearances, and maintain their bodies in incredible, physical shape. However, despite their significant value to the team they cheer for, the amount they are paid for their talent is often pathetic, bordering on abusive.