Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit: Who Qualifies Under the FLSA and What You Can Recover

An unpaid overtime lawsuit claims an employer did not pay the premium the Fair Labor Standards Act requires. It is one of the most common kinds of wage and hour claim. The typical patterns are:

Misclassification as exempt

The employer pays a salary and calls the job a manager, coordinator, or specialist role, but the work is mostly routine. Titles do not matter; duties and pay do.

Off-the-clock work

Workers are expected to boot up computers, attend pre-shift meetings, go through security, or finish tasks after clocking out. Automatic meal deductions for breaks that were never taken are a frequent source of claims; see our page on meal break and time rounding lawsuits.

Wrong regular rate

Overtime must be based on the regular rate, which generally includes nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions, and shift differentials. Paying time and a half on the base rate only can leave workers short.

Misclassification as a contractor

If you were treated as a 1099 contractor but worked like an employee, you may be owed overtime. See independent contractor misclassification.

Comp time instead of pay

Private employers generally cannot give time off in place of overtime pay. Public employers have different rules.

Overtime suits are not one case. They are thousands of separate lawsuits and Labor Department investigations against individual employers. Three recent developments shape them:

• Salary threshold: a 2024 Labor Department rule raising the exempt salary level was vacated nationwide by a federal court in Texas on November 15, 2024. On May 14, 2026, the department formally restored the 2019 levels: $684 per week for most white collar exemptions and $107,432 a year for highly compensated employees.
• Burden of proof: in E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera, decided January 15, 2025, the Supreme Court held that employers need only prove an exemption by a preponderance of the evidence, not clear and convincing evidence.
• Enforcement: the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $259 million in back wages for 176,957 workers in fiscal year 2025, an average of $1,465 per worker.

Private lawsuits are usually brought as collective actions under the FLSA, often paired with class claims under state wage laws, which can be larger. See California wage and hour lawsuits for the state with the strictest rules.

You likely have a claim if all of these are true:

1. You were an employee, not a genuine independent contractor.
2. You were nonexempt, meaning either paid hourly, paid a salary under $684 a week, or paid a salary but doing mostly nonexempt work.
3. You worked more than 40 hours in at least one workweek.
4. You were not paid 1.5 times your regular rate for those hours.
5. The unpaid weeks fall within the last 2 or 3 years.

The duties test

To be exempt as an executive, administrator, or professional, you generally must be paid a salary of at least $684 a week and your primary duty must fit the exemption: managing a department and directing at least two full-time employees, exercising discretion on significant business matters, or doing work that requires advanced knowledge. Many assistant managers, inside salespeople, IT help desk workers, and paralegals have won or settled overtime claims because their real duties did not fit.

Who may not qualify

Genuine independent contractors, some outside salespeople, many workers with truck driving duties covered by the motor carrier exemption, some agricultural workers, and certain public employees face different rules. Truck drivers should see truck driver unpaid wages. The FLSA's definition of an employee is broad, so do not assume you are excluded without checking.

The FLSA sets the formula. An employer that violates the overtime rule owes the unpaid overtime plus an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, which doubles the back pay unless the employer proves it acted in good faith with reasonable grounds.

Example math

If the hours were already paid at straight time and only the half-time premium is missing, the amount is one third of that. If the violation was willful, a third year can be added.

The employer also pays your reasonable attorney fees and costs if you win, which is why many attorneys take these cases on contingency. In group settlements, each worker's share usually depends on weeks worked and pay rate. For how group settlements are split and how fees work, see how class action money is divided and who pays the lawyers.

Settlements of back wages are generally taxed as wages; liquidated damages are usually reported as other income.

• 29 U.S.C. 207: requires overtime of at least one and one half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.
• 29 U.S.C. 216(b): gives workers the right to sue for unpaid overtime, an equal amount in liquidated damages, and attorney fees, and allows a collective action for similarly situated employees who consent in writing.
• 29 U.S.C. 215(a)(3): bars retaliation against workers who complain or file a claim.
• 29 C.F.R. Part 541: the exemption rules for executive, administrative, professional, computer, and outside sales employees.

Collective action vs. class action

Unlike a class action, where members are included unless they opt out, an FLSA collective action only includes workers who file a written consent to join. Courts often authorize notice to coworkers so they can opt in. State wage claims, by contrast, are usually brought as opt-out class actions. See class action vs. individual lawsuit.

Arbitration

Many employers require workers to sign an arbitration clause with a class action waiver. Those agreements are generally enforceable, so claims go to individual arbitration, but the same damages formula applies.

Under 29 U.S.C. 255, an FLSA overtime claim must be filed within 2 years of each violation, or within 3 years if the employer acted willfully. Each paycheck that shorted you starts its own clock, so the oldest weeks drop off every payday you wait.

In a collective action, your clock keeps running until your own written consent is filed with the court, not when the first coworker sued. That is a key reason to act quickly.

State wage laws may give longer deadlines. California allows up to 4 years for some claims, and some other states allow 3 to 6 years, which is why many lawsuits pair federal and state claims.

Many overtime claims come from a handful of repeated practices. If any of these sound familiar, keep records:

• Averaging hours across two weeks. Under the FLSA, overtime is calculated for each workweek on its own, so 50 hours one week and 30 the next still means 10 overtime hours are owed.
• Paying a flat salary to a nonexempt worker. A salary does not remove overtime unless the pay and duties tests are both met.
• Requiring approval for overtime, then not paying unapproved hours. Employers can discipline workers for unapproved overtime, but they still must pay for hours they knew or should have known were worked.
• Automatic meal deductions. Deducting a break the worker did not take can erase paid time.
• Ignoring small daily tasks. Logging in, security checks, and required uniform changes can add up.
• Leaving bonuses out of the rate. A production or attendance bonus usually raises the overtime rate for that week.

Salaried but not exempt

Workers often assume that being paid a salary means no overtime. A salaried worker earning more than $684 a week can still be owed overtime if the job's primary duty is not truly managerial, administrative, or professional. On the other hand, some high earners are exempt even with modest duties under the highly compensated employee test, which requires at least $107,432 a year.

Public employees

State and local government workers are covered by the FLSA but can be given comp time instead of cash under specific rules. Federal employees usually have separate overtime rules under Title 5. If you work for the government, check which rules apply before assuming you have a claim.

Remote and hybrid work

Working from home does not change overtime rules. Answering emails at night, joining early calls, or finishing reports on weekends counts as work time for nonexempt employees if the employer knows or should know it is happening. Keep a simple log of after-hours work with dates and times, and save the emails or messages that show it.

1. Start a log today. Write down when you start and stop work each day, including work before and after your shift.
2. Save pay stubs and schedules to a personal device or email. Do not take confidential company documents.
3. Do not sign a release or accept a check labeled as back wages without understanding what claims you give up.
4. Know your protection. Firing or punishing you for raising overtime is illegal retaliation.
5. You can also file with the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, which is free and confidential.

A free case review takes about two minutes and can connect you with independent attorneys who handle overtime cases. You can also browse other open lawsuits to join.