Employers in Texas have to comply with federal rules and also state employment regulations. The law limits what companies can require from workers and imposes multiple obligations on companies. Laws establish basic pay requirements including minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.
Companies often want to keep staffing costs as low as possible, which means that they may sometimes violate the rights of workers. Organizations sometimes try to trick workers into coming in for an unpaid shift in exchange for a pizza party or doing routine job responsibilities before they clock in at the beginning of a shift.
Other times, companies adopt policies intended to prevent the costs associated with overtime wages. Companies may have a universal policy against working overtime or may require pre-approval from a manager or the corporate offices for overtime authorization. Do those policies allow companies to deny workers pay for the time they have already worked?
Policies should prevent overtime, not diminish pay
It is fully lawful for businesses to strictly limit overtime hours. In fact, companies can eliminate overtime pay completely as long as they maintain careful scheduling practices and consistently monitor timeclock records. Some companies have very strict scheduling practices to prevent any unauthorized overtime.
Despite robust company efforts to the contrary, sometimes overtime labor situations still arise. Perhaps one worker calls in sick when anyone available to take their shift already has accrued 40 hours. Maybe some unanticipated surgeon demand prevents a worker from leaving immediately at the end of a shift.
If a worker puts in excess time an employer has an obligation to pay them regardless of whether the overtime was unauthorized or a violation of company policy. Workers who put in extra time and do not receive the appropriate pay may need to communicate with payroll or human resources to clarify the situation.
In some scenarios, pursuing an overtime wage claim in civil court is the most appropriate reaction. Internal complaints don’t always resolve a situation where a company refuses to pay a worker what they deserve for the time they already put in. Workers may need assistance reviewing the situation to validate whether an overtime pay violation occurred and taking appropriate action if it did.