Often people think of overtime pay from the perspective of employees. This makes sense because it goes without saying that employees should be paid for every hour they work. Overtime pay exists because of this simple fact.
It’s important to note, however, that abusing overtime rules doesn’t just affect employees. In some cases, it is the employees who are the ones doing the abusing.
In a recent example, Washington D.C. Metro, which oversees the city’s transit systems, terminated an employee for fraudulently claiming overtime pay. A track supervisor allegedly collected overtime pay for hours he did not work, which was discovered through an investigation into overtime fraud at Metro.
With so much focus recently on employees’ rights regarding overtime pay and minimum wage, it’s easy to forget that employers have rights too. Employment law is a complicated topic that balances the rights of employees and employers. If either side is abusing the system, the other side has the right to pursue legal action.
Employers need to pay their employees for the hours they worked, including overtime, but that doesn’t give employees free reign to abuse the system.
While there are exceptions, overtime rules in New York generally entitle employees who work more than 40 hours in a week to overtime pay.
Although overtime violations are traditionally regarded as situations involving underpaid employees, it is important to remember that employers may also fall victim to unlawful overtime practices and have the right to pursue legal action to recover their losses.
