Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance
Who Can Get Overtime Pay in Illinois?
Findgreatlawyers.com is a free service, run by Illinois lawyers. We provide attorney referrals and legal guidance for people who need legal help in Illinois for almost any legal matter including helping people collect overtime benefits. Although we are based out of Chicago, we have a state-wide network of attorneys for almost any county in Illinois. If you would like our help please contact us at (312) 346-5320. For more information on who is entitled to overtime benefits please read on.
Overtime pay in Illinois is governed by both Federal and State laws, and regulated by both the United States Department of Labor (DOL) and the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL). Generally, you are entitled to overtime pay, at 1.5 times your normal pay rate, whenever you work more than 40 hours in one work week. However, many jobs and some businesses are exempt from this general rule. If you are not sure if you should be receiving overtime pay or not, please contact us.
Generally, your work week is defined by your employer. Saturday, Sunday, or evening work are not automatically considered overtime--it all depends on how your work week is defined. If your work week is defined as Monday through Friday, 8 hours a day, then working on a Sunday will most likely be considered overtime. However, if your work week is three days a week for 8 hours a day, then working 8 hours each on Saturday and Sunday will generally not be considered overtime. If you have any questions about how your workweek is defined, be sure to check with your employer, and read your employment contract if you have one.
Holiday work is also not automatically considered overtime. Also, no federal or Illinois laws require that employers pay either double time or even overtime for work on holidays. Again, this all depends on your employer, your work week, and any employment agreements you and your employer may have with each other. If you have any questions about holiday work and pay, be sure to check with your employer, and read your employment contract if you have one.
Many employees are exempt from the overtime pay rules, meaning that even if these employees work for more than 40 hours in a work week, they are not entitled to overtime pay due to the nature of their jobs or the amount of their compensation. Generally, all professional, administrative, and executive jobs, such as teachers, lawyers, accountants, scientists, secretaries, managers, and business executives, are exempt from the overtime pay rules. Additionally, many workers in computer related jobs, such as programmers, systems analysts, and engineers, are also exempt from overtime pay rules. Finally, various sales professionals, farm workers, truck drivers and seasonal or carnival workers are also exempt from overtime pay rules.
Under both federal and Illinois law, people who make less than $455.00 a week for full-time work are guaranteed overtime pay. Additionally, firefighters and police officers are eligible to receive overtime pay, no matter what their weekly pay rate is. Finally, some workers may be exempt under federal law, but entitled to overtime pay under Illinois law. If this is the case with your job, you are generally entitled to overtime pay.
Finally, the size of your employer can determine whether or not you are eligible for overtime pay. If your employer has less than $500,000 a year in revenue, which covers most small businesses, they are typically not required to pay their employees any overtime pay.
Please remember, there are exceptions to a lot of the things we have described. Overtime pay rules can be quite complicated. We know many lawyers who focus their practice on recovering overtime pay and wages for employees and they would be happy to give you a free consultation to see if you are owed any money. Contact us and we will point you in the right correction. All phone calls are 100% confidential.