Call center employees work hard to field calls and solve customer problems. Most of the time, they handle close to a hundred calls a day, making it a grueling job. These individuals are required to be courteous and patient, and they more often than not don’t make so much money in relation to the amount of work they put in. It thus comes as a shock to many to hear that these workers are denied overtime on a regular basis, just so the parent company can keep making profits.
Call center owners use various tactics to deny their workers overtime. For example, they may give them the title of supervisor or manager, or they may state that because you receive a fixed salary every month, you are not entitled to overtime.
In 1938, the government, under the House of Representatives and the Senate, passed a bill called the Fair Labor Standards Act which was meant to ensure every worker is paid appropriately, overtime included. This came after waves of discontent from the American labor market as well as demonstrations alleging that employers were taking advantage of them left, right and center. The Wage and Hour Division, a Department of Labor subsidiary, ensures that FLSA is upheld, and it carries out regular investigations to ensure employers are doing right by their employees.
As an employee, you are owed overtime if:
- You work over 40 hours a week. Basically, every hour after the 40th hour is compensated at one a half times more than what you earn as hourly pay
- You carry out any duties that are within the scope of your employment such as turning on the computer, reading training literature, reading work emails, going for training seminars and so on.
- You take notes and look over customer information at the end of each day.
Overtime Legal Help
Overtime issues across the country are a big deal. In 2005, Countrywide Home Loans paid out $30 million as compensation for overtime non-payment to its 400 call center workers. The stakes are high when it comes to these kinds of cases, and that’s why it is important for you to work with a competent and experienced attorney to get your back pay as well as damages within a short amount of time. Please give us a call today on 877-561-3004 so we can look over your case for you. Thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you.