Hourly Employees
Employment Lawyers for Hourly Employees in Philadelphia
Many hourly employees do not receive credit for all the time they spend working for their company. Sometimes, this is called working “off the clock.”
Working “off the clock” is often illegal. Under federal and state wage laws, employees are entitled to be paid for many pre-shift and post-shift activities, which can include time spent in security screening lines, time spent walking to assigned locations within the plant or job site, time spent gathering work-related gear and equipment, time spent waiting for job assignments, time spent traveling out-of-town, time spent traveling between job sites or clients, time spent by call center employees logging into computer programs, and time spent in breaks of less than 20 minutes.
In addition, employees generally are entitled to be paid for work performed during unpaid lunch or meal breaks. Under the law, employees must be completely relieved of duties when they are on an unpaid lunch or meal break.
Companies generally are required to pay employees for all the time they spend performing activities that benefit the company. Our law firm has recovered millions of dollars for hourly employees who perform work “off-the-clock.”
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“Have significant experience in similar matters under the [Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act]” - Torres v. Brandsafway Indus. LLC, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10631, at *8 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 20, 2023).
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“I highly recommend this law firm.” - Brandon
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“I highly recommend contacting them to discuss your case.” - Tanya
Hourly Employee Case Studies in Pennsylvania & Nationwide
Here are some examples:
Our firm has been involved in some of the nation’s largest settlements on behalf of workers who allege that they were illegally denied payment for time spent at the beginning and end of the shift gathering, including putting on and taking off work-related gear and equipment.
Examples include:
- Nationwide settlements against two of the country’s largest poultry companies, totaling over $46 million
- Over $2.75 million for Mississippi poultry workers
- Over $1.5 million for Bradford and Luzerne County, PA meatpackers
- $1.3 million for workers at a Montgomery County, PA pork plant
- $320,000 for Dauphin County, PA beef processing workers
- Over $300,000 for workers at egg processing plants in Minnesota and Nebraska
- $100,000 for Ohio poultry workers
Our firm has also recovered wages for call center operators who were not paid for all the time spent booting up their computers and logging into computer programs at the beginning of their shifts. For example, we recovered $475,000 for a group of Ohio call center employees and $145,000 for a group of Nashville, TN call center employees.
We also have represented workers who were not paid for time spent attending pre-shift meetings. For example, we recovered $375,000 for prison guards in Norristown, PA; $81,000 for prison guards IN Scranton, PA; and $110,000 for prison guards in Allentown, PA. In all these cases, the guards alleged that they were denied pay for time spent in pre-shift meetings. In a similar case, we recovered $222,000 for a group of Hazleton, PA warehouse workers who were not paid for the time they spent attending pre-shift meetings and gathering inventory control devices.
More examples include:
- $1.55 million for a nationwide group of retail merchandisers who were not paid for the time they spent traveling between retail stores
- $47,000 for a small group of Pennsylvania sales representatives who regularly worked through their lunch break
- $67,000 for a small group of Pennsylvania behavioral health therapists who were not paid for time spent doing paperwork at home
Call (215) 866-1551 or send us a message for assistance.