A Quick Internet Summation Of » Employment Law Exempt Overtime Along With Other Research
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are small private restaurant exempt from paying overtime?
I was working in a restaurant for many years. Upon my terminating my employment I had already worked 4 days when I quit. I called the owner and asked for my 4 days pay and she refused to pay it. i also worked many hours in a week and only got straight time. Is a small business exempt from the labor laws
Nope. If you worked over 40 hours per a given week, the excess hours over 40 should have been paid at overtime rate. It is also wrong for them to refuse to pay you for the 4 days you are owed for - that is seriously wrong. This happens quite a lot in restaurants, I hate to say. But it's true. They often hire illegal immigrants (or even legal immigrants) and pay them way less than minimum wage, taking advantage of the immigrants lack of understanding of American law (specifically the FLSA - Fair Labor Standards Act).
I'm not entirely sure how you should pursue this - it's your decision. If it was me, seeing as how I didn't get my final paycheck for hours I had worked, I'd be calling around to various agencys like the local Department of Labor to look into the matter. Yes, that's called whistle-blowing. But sometimes, someone has to stand up and make things known about illegal activities. I'm pretty sure this business is not properly filing taxes or distributing tips properly either. It would have been much simpler for them to have just paid you your wages for the days you worked. Now - as I hope you will - they will be reported and be investigated and probably have an audit done on their bookkeeping record.
Overtime Law Interview Part 1