The Utah Business and Employment Lawyer

  The Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") requires the payment of 1.5 times an employee's normal hourly rate for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours in any workweek. FLSA's overtime requirements remain a critical cornerstone of employment law, yet they continue to be one of the most frequent sources of litigation for both employers and employees in 2026. At Stavros Law, we recognize that the landscape of wage and hour compliance is often shaped by a misunderstanding of the fundamental rule of the FLSA: unless specifically classified as exempt, every employee must receive overtime pay for all hours worked exceeding 40 in a single workweek at a rate no less than 1.5 times their regular pay. It is equally important for both parties to understand what FLSA does not require. For instance, federal law does not mandate extra pay for weekend or night work, nor does it require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave, or holidays. These benefits, along with ...

  In  employment law, “national origin discrimination” is most often associated with the protection of immigrants and foreign nationals from countries outside of the United States. But, of course, the protections under Title VII also apply to employees who originate from the United States. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidance late last year on discrimination against U.S. workers. See  EEOC Guidance . The guidance notes that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, safeguards against national origin discrimination extend to all applicants and employees, including U.S. citizens and American workers. The EEOC explicitly states that it is illegal to treat workers unfavorably because they are from the United States. This form of discrimination frequently arises when employers demonstrate a preference for foreign workers, such as those holding specific visa statuses like H-1B, over qualified American workers. While sponsoring visas rem...

  Many employees are confronted with situations in which they are not paid all wages they’ve earned, whether in the form of unpaid salary or hourly pay, overtime pay, commissions, bonuses or other compensation. Utah law provides numerous protections to employees who are owed wages during employment or following employment. These protection include claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment and other common law claims, as well as claims under the Utah Payment of Wages Act, Title 34, Chapter 28 of the Utah Code. Federal law also provides protections for certain types of wage claims. The Utah Payment of Wages Act establishes clear guidelines for timely and complete wage payments to employees and, critically, empowers workers to seek redress if these requirements are violated. If your employer hasn't paid you all the wages you are owed, you have the right to file a wage claim under the UPWA against your employer. Depending on the size of your claim, you can file an administrati...

  Utah parents have a number of workplace rights during pregnancy, postpartum recovery, breastfeeding, and while on leave for pregnancy or pregnancy related conditions. Both federal and Utah laws protect your ability to pump at work, take pregnancy-related accommodations, take necessary leave and remain free from discrimination or retaliation.  Under federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the PUMP Act require most employers to provide reasonable break time whenever an employee needs to express breast milk for up to one year following childbirth. Employers must also provide a private lactation space that is not a bathroom, shielded from view, and free from intrusion by coworkers or the public. If your workplace offers paid breaks, they must remain paid when used for pumping. Additional pumping time may be unpaid only if you are completely relieved of all duties. The PUMP Act also expands protections to many salaried, part-time, and previously excluded empl...

If you’ve experienced retaliation at work for speaking up about workplace safety issues, you may be protected by whistleblower laws. Both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the federal level and the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Division (UOSH) at the state level provide whistleblower protections for employees who engage in safety-related protected activities. OSHA, 29 U.S.C. § 654, and its general duty provision, requires employers to furnish employment free from recognizable safety hazards. Similarly,  Utah Code § 34A-6-101 et seq. requires employers to provide safe and healthy working conditions to employees in Utah. Specifically, OSHA’s general duty provision, 29 U.S.C. § 651 et seq., imposes a general duty on employers to furnish a workplace “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm” to employees, mandates that employer’s comply with OSHA regulations, and requires employees to comply with...