Last month, 8 club dancers employed by a Dallas-based adult entertainment business filed suit against their employer.  The plaintiffs work or previously worked at clubs in Lubbock, Dallas, Fort Worth, Abilene, and Odessa.

The dancers' claim states that their employer classifies them as contract workers, instead of hourly employees.  As a contract worker, individuals are able to set their own hours and typically use their own equipment to do their work.  However, the dancers say that they are assigned the hours they will work by the club and they are fined if they do not show up for their assigned hours.

According to the lawsuit, the dancers do not receive hourly pay and are not granted overtime for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week.  

To speak with an attorney about a wage or hour dispute you have with an employer, contact the Houston wage and hour dispute attorneys of Ross Law Group by calling 800-634-8042 today. 

Last month, the Department of Labor introducted a new Smartphone application that allows workers to easily track and record the hours they work and how much they should be paid.

The application was designed to help settle any wage and hour disputes between employees and employers.  The Department named it DOL-Timsheet.  With the app, smartphone users and workers can enter and calculate regular working hours, lunch breaks, other breaks, and overtime hours.  Furthermore, with this information, the application can give workers an idea of how much they should be paid for the hours they worked.

"This app will help empower workers to understand and stand up for their rights when employers have denied their hard-earned pay," said Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis.

If you have a dispute with an employer over wages or hours, contact the Houston wage and hour dispute lawyers of Ross Law Group at 713-482-6910 to learn more about your rights.

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.

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. 

When an employee performs a service for an employer, the time spent performing that service is generally considered to be working time. Under wage and hour laws, the employee must be fairly compensated for any working time. 

Working time not only includes the time working under normal hours but also includes any time spent working outside of normal hours. For instance, if an employee works overtime, then the employer must pay that employee a fair overtime compensation. 

If you believe you have not been fairly compensated for the work you have performed, contact the Houston fair compensation attorneys of the Ross Law Group at 800-634-8042.