South Carolina Employee Rights

A brief guide to South Carolina employee rights

The law provides many forms of protection for workers. It is important to be aware of every South Carolina employee right you have to make sure you are not taken advantage of by an employer.

One important issue to be aware of concerns minimum wage. The state has set the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour as the standard for its workers. If your employer is paying less than this rate, they are violating your South Carolina employee rights. Additionally, employers are required to pay $10.88 an hour for every hour worked past 40 hours a week. Failure to pay for overtime labor is a violation of your South Carolina employee right to proper compensation.

Some employers may try to get around making these payments by claiming that you are a salaried employee, and therefore not entitled to overtime rates. However, in many cases these claims are not in compliance with South Carolina employee rights. A salaried employee must be someone whose work requires a high level of specialized knowledge. An employer who pays minimum wage in a lump sum and declines to pay for overtime labor is in violation of your South Carolina employee right to proper compensation.

Any such violations of the law should be reported to the Hours and Wages division of the United States Labor Department. This government organization is responsible for investigating any claims of violations of South Carolina employee rights. They may be able to help you collected unpaid or underpaid wages. However, if they decline to help you pursue a violation of your South Carolina employee right to fair compensation, you may wish to consult with a lawyer who can help you go to civil court.

Some employees are not entitled to this kind of protection. For example, salespeople who make more than half of their income through commissions are not entitled to overtime payment as part of their South Carolina employee rights. If you are uncertain of whether you are entitled to overtime, contact the Labor Department's telephone hotline to find out.

There are no state laws concerning the right to breaks during the workday. Your South Carolina employee rights do not automatically provide time for a lunch break. However, if an employer does allow any break less than 30 minutes, you must still be paid for this time. Workers who are given 30 minutes or more off during the workday have the South Carolina employee right to spend this time away from the workplace if they so choose. An employer cannot dictate how or where this time will be spent.

South Carolina employee rights guarantee working mothers the ability to breastfeed their child at work for up to a year after giving birth. An employer must provide a safe, clean location to do so other than a bathroom. A mother must be provided time to do this without losing compensation, or her South Carolina employee right to provide reasonable care for her child is being violated.