Call Center Wage Disputes Lawyers in Texas
The call center wage disputes lawyers in Texas, at Moore & Associates may be able to help you recover overtime pay you might be owed from your employer if you are a call center worker and were not paid for overtime work. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workers must receive overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours in each workweek. The overtime pay rate must be at least time-and-a-half the worker’s normal pay rate. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, your employer is required to track your hours of work, and while the workweek can begin on any day or hour of the week, your employer must consistently track work from week to week. According to the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor, “averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted.” If you were not paid time-and-a-half for working overtime, you may have the right to receive payment for the wages you were owed. The call center wage dispute lawyers in Texas at Moore & Associates may be able to help you. Our call center overtime lawyers can look closely at how your call center employer calculated your hours of work, see whether you were paid overtime, check to see whether all hours you worked were counted, and look at how your employer tracked your hours and workweek.
Call center workers may have been told that they are not covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act, but this information may not be correct. For example, if you worked in Texas, but took calls from other states or made calls to other states, you would be entitled to receive overtime pay. Many call center workers in Texas handle call volume from across the nation, making them entitled to receive overtime pay and coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Other call center workers are incorrectly labeled independent contractors, resulting in violations of overtime pay.
If you did not receive overtime but worked over 40 hours for a call center, you might be entitled to seek overtime pay from your call center employer. The Texas call center overtime lawyers at Moore & Associates may be able to help you with your case. Contact our call center overtime pay lawyers in Texas at Moore & Associates today.
How Can a National Call Center Overtime Lawyer in Texas Help Me Receive Overtime Pay?
The national call center overtime lawyers in Texas at Moore & Associates may be able to help you receive overtime pay. If you worked at a national call center, took calls from other states, or called other states as part of your job, you would be covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act rules for overtime pay. If you were incorrectly labeled an independent contractor, the call center overtime lawyers in Texas at Moore & Associates may be able to help you. The Texas National Call Center overtime lawyers at Moore & Associates can review the nature of your work, including whether your call center would be considered a national call center. We can also take the time to learn more specific details of your workday. Some questions we might ask to explore your case can include:
- Were you required to take time to start up a computer and log into a computer program every day, without getting paid? If the start-up and logging-off process took time, but you weren’t paid, you might be entitled to recover unpaid wages.
- Were you sometimes required to work through your lunch break, or stay after you were “off the clock” if call volumes were high, or if you were finishing a call with a customer or client? If you were not paid for time you worked through your lunch break or were not paid if you had to stay on a call after hours, you might be entitled to recover unpaid overtime call center wages.
- Were you required to attend meetings or training without being paid? If so, you might be entitled to unpaid wages and overtime pay.
- Were you unpaid for time you spent dealing with “technical difficulties,” taking notes, or handling duties or tasks when you were not on the phone with clients or customers? If so, you might be entitled to unpaid wages and overtime pay.
- Were you classified as an independent contractor?
The national call center overtime lawyers in Texas at Moore & Associates help individuals seek justice when they were not paid overtime or suffered wage theft violations. Our call center overtime lawyers are here to listen to your story and help you take the next steps. You could be owed hours of overtime and may be entitled to receive a significant paycheck for your unpaid overtime and unpaid wages.
What Counts as Being Forced to Work Overtime at a Call Center in Texas?
Sometimes call center workers are forced to work overtime and may not realize it. For example, if you were not paid for time you spent booting up your call center computer, checking emails, logging into call center programs, making call notes, attending call center meetings or trainings, or were not paid for the time it took to log notes at the end of your day and shut down your computer, you might have lost valuable paid time. In some cases, the time it can take to perform these tasks can take up to a half hour or even more. This can add up to several hours or more of wage theft each week. Sometimes call centers only counted time worked as hours or minutes a worker was “on a call” resulting in significant lost minutes of counted work time between calls. This can also add up to hours of work over a typical workweek. “On paper” workers might have worked only 40 hours, but when you consider these other work activities, their workweek might have been significantly more than 40 hours. Not only might workers have not been compensated for this time, but workers might also be entitled to receive overtime pay for this time worked, meaning they might be entitled to receive time-and-a-half pay.
In other situations, workers might be asked to work through their lunch break or be asked to not count their 15- or 20-minute rest breaks as work time. If you were asked to work through your lunch break, you might be entitled to seek compensation for this time and may even be entitled to receive overtime pay for the time you worked. The forced-to-work-overtime lawyers in Texas at Moore & Associates can review your unique situation and help you take the next steps.
Am I Entitled to Call Center Overtime in Texas if I was a Salaried Employee?
Being paid a salary doesn’t exempt your employer from Fair Labor Standards Act overtime pay laws. The Fair Labor Standards Act provides an exemption for executive, administrative, and professional employees, provided they are paid more than the salary thresholds required under the law. According to the Congressional Research Service, as of July 1, 2024, the salary threshold increased to $844 per week ($43,888 per year) and will increase further to $1,128 per week ($58,656 per year) on January 1, 2025. Individuals must also perform the duties of an executive, administrative, or professional employee. Executives, for example, work in management roles, direct the work of two or more employees and can hire and fire workers. Administrative work requires that the employee’s primary duty involve “the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.” Professional employees typically require advanced degrees or highly specialized training or instruction.
Most call center workers don’t meet the duties test or the salary test requirements and are therefore entitled to receive call center overtime even if they are salaried workers. Of course, every situation is unique. If your call center employer claims that you are exempt from overtime because you are a salaried worker, the call center wage disputes lawyers in Texas at Moore & Associates may be able to help you. Our call center overtime lawyers can review your specific job description, look at your salary, and evaluate your situation. We can help you understand your rights and help you take the next steps. If you are entitled to overtime pay, our Texas call center overtime pay lawyers at Moore & Associates may be able to help you.
How Much Money in Call Center Overtime Pay Can I Receive?
The value of your call center overtime pay will depend on how many hours of overtime you worked during your employment at the call center, your hourly rate, and whether your worker failed to pay you for hours of work. In some cases, employers might be penalized and required to pay more than the money owed to workers. In some cases, the penalties can end up being double what a worker is owed. Furthermore, if you were denied overtime pay or were a victim of wage theft, the court might require your employer to pay your legal fees. Ultimately, a call center overtime lawyer in Texas can review your situation, determine whether you are eligible to receive overtime pay, calculate the money you might be owed, and fight for your rights either inside or outside of court. The Texas call center wage disputes lawyers at Moore & Associates are here to help. Contact us today to learn more.
Speaking up about wage violations can be stressful and frightening. You might be wondering whether you could be penalized on the job for calling out your employer. Workplace retaliation laws protect workers who make complaints or whose rights have been violated. This means that your employer is not permitted to fire you, reduce your hours, or otherwise penalize you because you made a complaint. Of course, sometimes employers don’t follow the law and retaliate against workers anyway. If this happens, you might be entitled to receive even more in additional compensation and damages and file a complaint. The Texas wage dispute attorneys at Moore & Associates understand the unique challenges that workers face when fighting wage violations. Our call center overtime lawyers in Texas are here to help you seek the damages you might be entitled to receive if you weren’t paid overtime or if you were a victim of wage theft.
How Do I Know If I’m a Victim of Call Center Wage Theft in Texas?
Some workers may not realize that they are victims of call center wage theft. Normalization of certain practices on the job might sometimes lead workers to believe that their employer’s practices are permitted, legal, and normal, when in fact, some practices are illegal and constitute wage theft violations. What are some red flags that indicate that you might be a victim of call center wage theft? Here are a few:
- You routinely spend over 40 hours working but never get paid overtime for your work.
- Your employer claims that certain tasks you perform don’t count as work time. These tasks can include logging into a work computer, training, taking notes, responding or sending emails, logging off at the end of the day, or dealing with technical difficulties.
- You are asked to stay on the phone with clients or customers during your lunch break or after you are technically “off the clock.”
- You are not given paid breaks.
- If you do take a break, you are required to spend time during your break logging off or logging on to your computer or programs.
- If call volumes are high, you are asked to work during your lunch break but aren’t paid for this time.
- You’re asked to do things after you clock out.
- You were classified as an “independent contractor” rather than an employee.
- You are asked to pay for your own training or equipment but aren’t reimbursed.
- Your paycheck was incorrect, or your overtime hours were incorrectly counted.
If you see any of these red flags, sometimes these errors are just due to human or clerical errors. A quick chat with your employer can often lead to a solution. But sometimes, the situation is systemic and is part of your employer’s normal course of doing business. If this is the case, you might be entitled to file a complaint with the Department of Labor or speak to a call center overtime lawyer in Texas at Moore & Associates who may be able to help you seek compensation for unpaid overtime or wage theft.
Call Center Overtime Pay for Independent Contractors in Texas
In some situations, employers try to avoid paying workers overtime and avoid paying workers for “off the clock” duties by illegally labeling them independent contractors when they are, in fact, employees. For example, a recent ProPublica investigation found that some national call workers were not only not paid for overtime, but were also even required to pay for their own training and equipment, and were required to pay service fees for accessing company systems. Some of these companies intentionally label their employees independent contractors because it saves companies money that they otherwise would have paid to workers when they spend time logging on to computer programs, going for a lunch break, or paid time off.
Call center workers who are improperly labeled independent contractors might not only be denied overtime pay, but they may also experience wage theft (being forced to work off the clock) and may have to pay self-employment taxes. People improperly labeled independent contractors may also be denied important protections that employees enjoy.
Determining who is and isn’t an independent contractor isn’t always clear-cut, though the IRS provides some guidance. Generally, independent contractors run their own businesses, can set their own hours, and control how they do the job. Independent contractors typically submit invoices and handle their own business and accounting, including providing their own tools. Working from home doesn’t necessarily automatically make you an independent contractor.
If you worked as a telephone agent and paid for your own training, and equipment, were not paid for the time you were waiting for a call, and when you count your training hours, find that you were paid less than minimum wage, or weren’t paid time-and-a-half for overtime, despite working overtime shifts, you might want to speak to the national call center overtime lawyers at Moore & Associates. Some “independent contractors” were required to meet strict performance measures, which could put their status as independent contractors into question. Our call center wage disputes attorneys in Texas are here to help.
Contact Our Texas Call Center Overtime Lawyers Today
If you’ve been denied overtime pay in Texas or were asked to perform certain duties without pay, you may be entitled to receive compensation for your unpaid wages. Reach out to the call center overtime lawyers in Texas at Moore & Associates today. We can review your case and help you seek the compensation and unpaid wages you may be entitled to receive.
