Lafayette Labor and Employment Lawyers
What are some common violations of Labor Laws in Lafayette Louisiana?
Employment law is a busy field with so many employers becoming involved in litigation for all types of workplace deviations resulting in disputes. Most often, legal actions stem from direct violations of the labor laws that are set up to protect both the employer and the employee from the wrongdoing of either party. State labor laws must either comply with federal, or national labor laws, or exceed them in order to be legal. Louisiana defers to Federal law in most cases. The most common and costly of the mistakes include violations of:
- Not adhering to the minimum wage and overtime requirements per established employment law..
- Not providing a safe working environment for employees.
- Workers compensation issues for on the job injuries.
- Misclassification of employees.
- Discrimination, or harassment of employees.
Minimum wage and overtime.
The Federal Labor Standards Act requires overtime pay of at least one and one-half times the regular rate of pay for hours worked, in excess of 40 hours per workweek and the State of Louisiana follows suit. Regular rate requirements define what forms of payment employers include and exclude in the “time and one-half” calculation when determining workers’ overtime rates. Louisiana also follows Federal guidelines on minimum wage, meaning nearly all employees must be paid $7.25 an hour for their labor, because the State does not set minimum wages, or employee benefits as per Louisiana Statute 23:642.
Safe working environment.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) is in place to ensure workplace safety for employees. If an employer does not take the appropriate measures to make the workplace safe, they can face OSHA sanctions and fines, along with formal complaints and lawsuits from employees. Workplace safety issues may include poor lighting, variances in temperature unacceptable for work, poor ventilation, toxic exposure to chemicals and other foreign substances, cluttered office spaces, poor ergonomic design of individual workspaces and workplace violence. Employers are responsible for educating employees about all relevant potential hazards on the job and for providing appropriate training to avoid OSHA labor law violations.
Workers’ compensation.
The State of Louisiana requires employers to carry some sort of workers’ compensation insurance to cover the costs of work-related injuries. In almost all cases, if a worker sustains an injury while working for a specific employer, that employer must cover the costs related to that injury. These costs include medical fees, rehabilitation fees, and the wages not being earned due to disability. Failing to cover these costs will be a labor law violation and a complaint can be filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission. This process may be more effective with timely resolve when an experienced labor law attorney in Lafayette Louisiana at The Law Offices of Miller & Hilgendorf is guiding the process for an injured employee.
Employee misclassification.
Some employers try to classify workers to minimize the wages paid to that person. This misclassification results in a labor law violation. An example of this labor law violation is trying to classify someone as a salaried employee when they are an hourly employee. According to the FLSA, the only people who should be paid salary are professionals, executives, administrative staff, outside salespeople, and some computer positions. If an hourly worker is classified as a salaried employee to short them of overtime hours above a 40 hour work week, it is a major labor law violation.
Discrimination, harassment of employees.
Federal anti-discrimination laws support many lawsuits brought against employers for age, disability status, gender pay gap, sex, race, religion, national origin, and pregnancy to name a few and include:
- Title I of Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA): Prohibits discrimination against qualified disabled employees.
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act: Bars employers from discriminating against workers based on sex, race, religion, color, or national origin.
- Pregnancy Discrimination Act: Prevents employers from discriminating against a woman because of pregnancy, or a related condition.
- Equal Pay Act: Requires employers to pay men and women the same wages if they perform equal work in the same workplace.
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act: Prohibits employers from discriminating against employees ages 40, or older based on their age.
Hire a Lafayette Labor Law attorney.
If you believe that you have been the victim of any labor law violations, including the lack of adherence to minimum wages, overtime wages, employee safety on the job, workers’ compensation payments, purposeful misclassification of employee type, or outright discrimination and harassment on the job, immediately contact an experienced employment law attorney in Lafayette Louisiana at the Law Offices of Miller & Hilgendorf who can review your case and make a clear path to recovery for any damages from the violations in labor laws committed by an employer.
MILLER & HILGENDORF
Address: 3960 Government St
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Phone: 225-343-2205
Sources:
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence/
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=814789
https://www.osha.gov/workers/file_complaint.html
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/
https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/whdfs21.pdf
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/minimumwage
