An Arizona utility contractor licensed in 8 states, including Texas, recently agreed to pay $750,000 in owed wages to 740 of its employees.  "There is no excuse to deny workers the wages they have worked hard to earn.  All businesses have an obligation to pay their employees fairly and must comply with federal labor laws.  Cheating workers out of time spent on the job--whether performing work-related tasks, traveling or attending a meeting--is unacceptable," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division looked into the company's practices for two years.  Officials determined that Arizona Pipeline Co. was not paying employees for pre-shift and post-shift hours, travel time, and monthly meetings.  In addition, the company did not pay the workers for a daily half-hour lunch despite the fact that the workers typically worked through lunch or took a 15-minute lunch break.

If you or someone you know has a wage or hour dispute with an employer, contact the Houston overtime pay attorneys of Ross Law Group at 713-482-6910 and we will help you receive the pay that you lawfully deserve.

Last week, a group of construction workers working in Austin on projects like the new high rise apartment complex 21 Rio and the Gables Park Plaza downtown filed suit against their contractors for not receiving the proper payment.  The workers did plaster work on the buildings from February 2009 to June 2009.

According to the suit, around 23 construction workers were not paid for any overtime that they worked in addition to not being paid at all for their last few weeks on the job.  The suit is being filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act and allows other workers who feel they were insufficiently compensated to join.

The workers have tried to negotiate with the contractors, Greater Metroplex Interiors and Capoera Construction, for a year about the unpaid overtime.  One worker stated, "We often worked up to 70 hours, six days a week with no rest breaks.  We were denied overtime pay and were not paid at all for our final weeks of work.  We simply want what is fair".

If you or someone you know is not receiving the pay they deserve, contact the Houston wage and hour dispute attorneys of Ross Law Group at 713-482-6910 to learn more about your rights.

The Houston unemployment rate is currently sitting at 8.3 percent, a little more than the state's 8 percent, but less than the United States' overall rate of 9.3 percent.  This means about a quarter of a million people in Houston are considered unemployed.  

Recently, officials have noticed that job postings at the state's employment office in Houston, Texas Workforce Solutions, have been steadily rising since February.  There are currently 3,500 posting a month, while the normal rate is considered to be between 4,000 and 5,000 a month.

However, employment officials believe that no matter a person's education or experience, wages are likely to be lower than they had previously earned.  "Over the last year, candidates have to be flexible in terms of their expectations of salary," stated a Houston staffing firm employee, Caroline McGlaun.  

If you or someone you know is not receiving the proper pay for the amount of work you do, contact the Houston wage and hour dispute attorneys of Ross Law Group at 800-634-8042 to learn more about your rights. 

In the early part of the 20th century, employees were permitted to work employees for long hours and give them inadequate pay. That practice changed after the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was passed in 1938. 

The FLSA was one of the many reforms during the New Deal that protected workers' rights. The original statutes raised by the FLSA, however, have been modified in the last seventy years and the employment law looks vastly different. 

Given the legal complexities and technical issues surrounding wage and hour dispute issues, many people have trouble understanding if they are receiving fair compensation or if they have a legitimate claim to file a lawsuit against their employer.

If you have questions regarding wage and hour dispute issues, contact the Houston employment lawyers of the Ross Law Group at 800-634-8042.