Employees have an implicit agreement with their employers. In return for performing certain duties an employee should be paid an agreed upon wage by his or her employer.

This agreement has worked very well for a very long time - provided both the employees and their employers have stuck to their agreement. And, of course, their agreement must comply with the law.

The federal law that protects the rights of workers is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This act sets the standards for employee compensation.

Employers are legally required to know how the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to their businesses. And they are required by law to make sure that all of their workers are getting paid according to the provisions of the law. It is illegal for your employer to create any agreements or policies that attempt to circumvent the requirements established by the FLSA.

To better understand how the Fair Labor Standards Act could apply to your circumstances, read the following examples of some of the most common FLSA wage violations.

Minimum Wage Violations

The most recent minimum wages were established on July 24, 2009. For most covered employees the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

However, there are some exceptions. These include certain disabled workers and student workers, who may be compensated at a lower rate.

Also, during their first ninety days of employment, the minimum wage for workers who are under twenty years old is $4.25 per hour. However, on the day that they turn twenty their minimum hourly wage must be raised to $7.25.

Workers who receive tips while on the job fall into another category. Although their minimum hourly wage rate is $2.13 they must receive at least $7.25 per hour when their wages and tips are combined.

As an example, let's say that Mary is a waitress in a roadside diner. Because of the amount of traffic that comes through the door Mary's hourly wage plus tips usually is considerably more than the $7.25 minimum wage.

The diner's owner decides to have work done on the parking lot one week and, because of the construction, a lot fewer people come into the diner. As a result, Mary makes only $120 in tips for the 30 hours she works that week, an average of $4.00 per hour. So, adding the $2.13 minimum wage to the $4.00 in tips, Mary earned an average of $6.13 for the week.

However, her employer is legally obligated to pay Mary an additional $1.12 per hour so that she will earn the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.