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A 17-year-old in Albuquerque, New Mexico buses tables at a diner all summer. She works 44 hours one busy week at $12 an hour and expects $528. Her check says something different, and she is not sure whether it is right. Three federal rules explain most of the gap: overtime, tips, and payroll taxes.
Overtime is counted by the workweek
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the main federal wage law, says covered employees must get overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek. The rate is at least time and one-half their regular pay. A workweek is a fixed period of 168 hours, seven days in a row, that the employer sets. It does not have to start on Monday.
So her 44 hours are really 40 hours at $12 ($480) plus 4 hours at $18 ($72). Before taxes, she earned $552, not $528.
The U.S. Department of Labor says the FLSA does not require extra pay just for working weekends or holidays. Only the hours past 40 count. Some states add daily overtime or higher rates, so check your state labor office too.
Your tips belong to you
Under the FLSA, an employer may never keep any part of a worker's tips, and managers and supervisors cannot take tips either. An employer can require a tip pool, where tips are shared among workers, but managers cannot be in it.
Some employers pay tipped workers a cash wage as low as $2.13 an hour and count tips toward the federal minimum of $7.25. That is called a tip credit. If wages and tips together fall short of $7.25 an hour in a workweek, the employer must make up the difference. Many states do not allow this or set a higher cash wage. Our article on tip credits and pay stubs walks through that math.
What comes out before you see it
The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) sets the Social Security rate at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45% for the employee. On $552, that is about $34.22 and $8.00. Federal income tax may also be held back, based on the tax form you filled out when you were hired, and many states take out state income tax.
If too much income tax was held back during the year, you may get some back by filing a tax return.
These rules have a long history. In United States v. Darby (1941), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FLSA's minimum wage, maximum hours, and overtime rules, and overruled Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918), which had blocked an earlier federal child labor law.
Check your pay stub every time
Write down your own hours each day, including start and end times. When the check comes, compare your hours, your rate, any overtime hours, and each deduction line.
If something looks wrong, ask your manager or payroll office first, in writing if you can. If it is not fixed, the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division takes wage complaints for free. Our article on filing a wage, safety, or child labor complaint explains the steps.
Da ricordare
- Federal overtime is time and one-half for hours over 40 in a fixed workweek. Weekends alone do not trigger it.
- Employers and managers can never keep your tips. If a tip credit is used, you must still reach $7.25 an hour.
- Expect 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare to come out of every check, plus any income tax.
- Keep your own hours log and compare it to every pay stub.
Fonti
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Overtime Pay (si apre in una nuova scheda)
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Fact Sheet #15, Tipped Employees Under the FLSA (si apre in una nuova scheda)
- IRS: Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates (si apre in una nuova scheda)
- Library of Congress: United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100 (1941) (si apre in una nuova scheda)
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