A paystub may show 40 hours even though the employee stayed late, answered work messages after clocking out or worked through an unpaid meal period. Before deciding whether pay is missing, compare the work actually performed with the time and wages recorded for that workweek.
The Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, supplies federal minimum-wage, overtime and recordkeeping rules. Coverage, exemptions and what counts as paid working time matter. A job title, salary or tax form alone does not answer those questions.
Start with coverage and the workweek
For most covered, non-exempt employees, overtime is due for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at no less than one and one-half times the regular rate. The rule appears in 29 U.S.C. § 207 and the Department of Labor’s overtime guidance.
The exemption question needs its own review. Being paid a salary does not automatically eliminate overtime. The actual duties and pay arrangement must satisfy the requirements of the exemption being asserted. Likewise, calling someone a “1099 contractor” does not resolve whether the person is an employee under the applicable law.
Begin with one workweek that you can document clearly. Identify the hours worked, the pay received and any disagreement about how the employer counted time. Then examine whether the same issue appears in other weeks. Our Baton Rouge wage-and-hour practice page discusses overtime and exemption disputes.
When recorded time differs from actual work
A timekeeping system may deduct a meal period automatically, round entries or allow a supervisor to edit a punch. The important question is whether the employee was paid for all compensable time. The existence of an edit alone does not establish a violation, but unexplained differences deserve examination.
Write down the task performed before clock-in or after clock-out, who requested it and approximately how long it took. For an unpaid meal period, record whether work interrupted the break. For on-call time, describe the actual restrictions rather than assuming that every hour available by phone must be paid.
Messages, dispatch records and schedules can help test those accounts. Preserve the original context and dates. A screenshot showing only a fragment of an exchange may leave out information needed to understand what was assigned.
Keep a record you can compare with payroll
Save your paystubs, timecards, schedules, pay-rate notices and relevant messages. A contemporaneous log can record start and finish times, breaks actually taken, travel between jobsites and work requested outside scheduled hours. Distinguish an estimate from a time you know precisely.
The employer also has recordkeeping duties. 29 U.S.C. § 211(c) addresses those obligations, and the Department of Labor’s recordkeeping fact sheet describes required records and retention periods. Payroll records generally must be kept for at least three years.
Keep lawful copies of your own records outside a workplace account that you may lose access to. Do not alter records, enter a system without authorization or take unrelated confidential material. If important timekeeping information is held by the employer, identify it so counsel can consider an appropriate preservation request.
Record what happens after a pay complaint
The FLSA prohibits discharge or discrimination because an employee engaged in protected activity, including filing a complaint or participating in a proceeding. The Department of Labor’s retaliation guidance discusses that protection.
If your shifts, assignments or disciplinary record change after you raise a pay concern, preserve the sequence. Keep the complaint, the response, earlier schedules and later notices. Record who made each decision and the reason given. Timing can be important evidence, but it does not establish retaliation by itself.
Describe the complaint accurately, including whether it was written or oral and who heard it. Do not assume that you must have used a particular legal term before the conversation matters. Whether the activity was protected and whether the response violated the law require review of the facts.
A safety concern is a separate issue
Long hours can also raise safety questions. NIH’s sleep-deficiency guidance explains that insufficient sleep can impair concentration and reaction time. That health information does not prove that wages were unlawfully withheld or that an employer caused an injury.
If an injury occurred, obtain appropriate care and document the incident separately from the pay dispute. Our article on workers’ compensation and possible third-party injury claims explains why those claims require a different analysis.
Identify the claim before choosing a deadline
Wage claims, retaliation claims and injury claims should not be assigned one shared deadline. Have the dates and the legal basis for each claim reviewed promptly.
For comparison, Louisiana Civil Code article 3493.1 generally provides two years for many delictual injury claims arising on or after July 1, 2024. Earlier incidents may involve a shorter period. The version of article 2323 effective January 1, 2026 can bar an injured person’s negligence recovery at 51% or more fault and reduce it proportionally below that threshold. Those Louisiana injury rules do not decide whether overtime was owed under the FLSA.
When pay records do not match
Start with the employer, job duties, pay arrangement, approximate dates and one or two examples of the discrepancy. Recent paystubs, time entries and messages can help identify what needs closer review. The Department of Labor’s employment-law guide also explains federal wage rights and enforcement resources.
This article provides general legal and safety information. Coverage, exemptions, working time, remedies and deadlines depend on the facts and applicable law.