What laws provide rights to minimum wages and overtime compensation?
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act sets the federal minimum wage and provides nonexempt employees with the right to overtime compensation. Additionally, some states have enacted legislation increasing the minimum wage above the federal minimum.

What is the minimum wage?
Currently (January 2007) The Florida minimum wage is $6.67 per hour. The Federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. Other states have also enacted higher minimum wages.

What is overtime compensation?
Nonexempt employees are entitled under the Fair Labor Standards Act to receive one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of forty per workweek.

What is an exempt employee?
The Fair Labor Standards Act provides that employees receiving certain types of compensation and performing certain types of job duties are not entitled to receive overtime compensation. Included among these exempt categories are certain executive, administrative and professional employees, as well as certain outside salespersons, commissioned retail salespersons and motor carriers. The determination of which employees fall within these exemptions is typically fact intensive and made on a case by case basis.

Do I have to first go to the Department of Labor if I wish to make a claim for unpaid wages or overtime compensation?
No. Unlike discrimination claims (which must first be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), wage recovery claims have no administrative prerequisite. While the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division does have the power to investigate claims, an employee may go directly to court without first consulting the agency.

How far back can a claim seeking unpaid wages or overtime compensation reach?
Claims for unpaid minimum wages and overtime compensation can seek a remedy going back two years, or three years if the violation is “willful.”

What damages am I entitled to in a claim for unpaid wages or overtime compensation?
In addition to the unpaid minimum wages or overtime compensation, an employee can seek liquidated (double) damages, and is entitled to recover attorney's fees if he or she prevails.

Can my employer retaliate against me for bringing a claim for unpaid wages or overtime compensation?
No. The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits retaliation against employees who assert their rights.

What if I don't have any record of the number of hours I worked?
It is the employer's, not the employee's, burden to keep accurate time records. If an employer fails to do so, its employees can nonetheless bring a claim for unpaid minimum wages and overtime hours based upon their reasonably estimates of the hours worked.

Am I only entitled to be paid for overtime hours that are specifically requested, authorized or approved by my employer?
No. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer must compensate an employee for any work that is "suffered or permitted." This means that as long as the employer is aware that you have worked overtime hours, it must compensate you for those hours in accordance of the law, whether or not those hours were requested, authorized or approved.