A worker’s compensation lawyer calls our firm and proudly explains that the WC Judge just deemed his injured client to be illegally classified as an “independent contractor.”  Due to the lawyer’s skill, diligence, and persistence the client finally will receive the worker’s compensation benefits he deserves.  Now it’s time to go after all that unpaid overtime.  This will be a “slam dunk.”

WRONG!!!  Under federal and Pennsylvania overtime laws, workers’ claims for unpaid overtime can only extend back three years.  So if you’ve waited for you injured client’s case to work its way through the worker’s compensation system, you’ve waited too long.  Most of your client’s unpaid overtime recovery will be time-barred.

So don’t wait.  Get that overtime case filed immediately upon learning of the “independent contractor” misclassification.  The workers’ compensation case and the overtime case can proceed on parallel tracks.  Moreover, a favorable finding in the overtime case will enhance the wage entitlement in the workers’ compensation case.

The full panoply of wage and overtime rip-offs in the landscaping and construction industries are too vast to be covered by this mere Newsletter.  Notwithstanding, when you speak with your clients in the landscaping and construction industries, you should be on the lookout for the Company’s failure to pay for travel between the company headquarters and the work location.

Many landscaping and contracting companies require the workers to report to headquarters at the beginning of the workday.  There, the workers gather equipment and materials needed for the day’s project, load the company vehicle, and travel to the worksite.  Then, at the end of the day, the workers must return to headquarters, unload the vehicle, and perform other end-of-shift duties.

The illegality arises when the Company pays the workers only for the time spent on-site at the work location.  Under such circumstances, workers are cheated out of many hours of compensable work.  Indeed, we have represented clients who have been owed thousands of dollars for of unpaid travel time at the beginning and end of the workday.

The Department of Labor has enacted a regulation that specifically addresses travel during the (more…)