QUESTION
Employment Misclassification as Independent Contractor
Asked on Feb 14th, 2015 on Labor and Employment - Texas
More details to this question:
I contacted a previous employer and asked if she needed extra help and she responded that she needed help at trial that was coming up. The first day I went in I was informed that her secretary had just quit but the file clerk was taking her position so all I needed to worry about was getting ready for trial. The office manager informed me that I would make $13 an hour until trial and $1500 a week during trial. When I got to work next day I was informed that the file clerk had called in and quit too. Trial was rescheduled. I was payed $13 an hour as an independent contractor for the first 5 months and received a pay cut to $10 an hour the last 2 months. I was working at least 15 hours of overtime a week that I wasn't paid for. My job was finally terminated because a disagreement between the office manager and myself regarding the time I spent on a project, I was paid for 3 out of 19 hours. Can someone help me?
1 ANSWER
2 Awards
You may have a claim for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If you do, you could pursue that claim either through a private lawyer or through the US Department of Labor, Wage & Hour Division. There is an office of that agency in every major city in Texas. The DFW office is in Arlington.
However, not all employers are subject to that federal law. Texas does not have a state law governing overtime. In order for an employer to be subject to the overtime requirements of the FLSA, it must have a gross income in excess of $300,000.00 per year and it must engage in interstate commerce or the employee must engage in interstate commerce. Engaging in interstate commerce means buying or selling goods or services across state lines. Almost all employers engage in interstate commerce on some level. Can you tell me how many employees the company has and if you think it makes more than $300k per year and whether it does business in other states (even if it doesn't have an office in another state) or, if the company is a law firm, whether it represents out of state clients in Texas?
Answered on Feb 16th, 2015 at 1:14 PM
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