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Wage Theft and Overtime Pay

Pechman Law Group has established a reputation as the nation’s leading law firm for overtime and wage theft cases. We have litigated over 300 cases in this specialized area of the law. Lou Pechman moderates an annual program on “How to Handle a Wage and Hour Case”at New York County Lawyers Association and serves as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School, teaching a class “Wage Theft: Employee Rights And Employer Responsibilities.” Franco Cuadra has also established himself to be an expert in this area, lecturing to attorneys at an annual program at the NYC Bar Association on “FLSA Math.” And, Vivianna Morales has handled over 100 wage theft cases on behalf of both workers and companies and has a particular specialty on restaurant and construction industry cases

On the employee side, Pechman Law Group has represented waiters, construction workers, exotic dancers, brokers, salespersons, nannies, cooks, building superintendents, deliverymen and business analysts in wage theft and overtime pay disputes. The many employers we have defended in wage and overtime lawsuits include restaurants, messenger companies, construction companies, advertising agencies, hedge funds, engineering firms and retail stores. We also counsel and provide guidance on best practices to our management clients so that they avoid overtime and wage theft lawsuits.

One of the common questions in wage theft cases is who is exempt from the overtime requirement. In New York City, in order to be “exempt” for the overtime requirement, you must earn a weekly salary of at least $1,125 (i.e., annual salary of $58,500) and you must also be classified as either an “executive,” “administrative, “or “professional” employee or meet a particular exemption from overtime regulations. Employees are frequently misclassified as managers. In fact, according to a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, employers cheated workers out of $4 billion by misclassifying workers as managers.

In wage theft cases, employees are entitled to recover the back pay they are owed, double damages for a willful violation of the law, and their attorney’s fees. In New York, workers have six years to file a claim for wage theft violations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Although the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, state laws often provides for a minimum wage that is often higher than the federal minimum wage. In New York City, the minimum wage is $16 per hour https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state
In wage theft cases, employees are entitled to recover the back pay they are owed, double damages for a willful violation of the law, and their attorney’s fees.
Maybe. In New York State, in order to be “exempt” for the overtime requirement, you must earn a weekly salary of at least $1,125 (i.e., annual salary of $58,500) and you must also be classified as either an “executive,” “administrative, “or “professional” employee or meet a particular exemption from overtime regulations

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