FAQs

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here. Cleveland’s medical malpractice lawyer. The topic that I’d like to discuss today is nursing home malpractice. Now folks, nurses are the backbone of our healthcare system and, for the most part, are hardworking and want to do what’s best for their patients. But occasionally, because of understaffing or just carelessness, things happen. Bad things. One example that we see from time to time, generally because of understaffing, is a failure to reposition or turn the patients. This leads to pressure sores. Other common mistakes are simply giving the wrong medication, failing to monitor the patient in a hospital session settings such as their pulse ox, or how much oxygen they have in their blood, or even their blood pressure. Last but not least, the most common source or example of nursing malpractice has to do with falls. They just aren’t monitoring the patient because they have, generally speaking, too many patients to deal with, and a patient may have to go to the restroom. They try to get up on their own, and they fall and break a hip. Or the order calls for what’s called a “two person assist,” and one nurse decides to try to move or transfer the patient by themselves. They drop the patient, and the patient fractures their hip. Folks, nursing malpractice is a serious issue in today’s healthcare system. If you or a loved one feel like you’re a victim of nursing malpractice, please give give us a call.

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here; Cleveland’s medical malpractice lawyer. One question that we get from time to time here in the office and also during jury selection and a trial is, ‘what is the difference between medical malpractice and medical negligence?’ The truth is they’re one and the same. There is no difference. This means that in order to be successful in a medical malpractice case we have to show that the medical professional did not act as a reasonable, prudent provider would under the same or similar circumstances. In other words, did that medical professional break the rules that they must follow? If you feel that you have suffered an injury or a loved one to suffered an injury as a result of a doctor, nurse, or anesthesiologist breaking the rules, please give us a call or visit our website. I hope that provided some more information on the difference or lack thereof of medical malpractice and medical negligence. Take care.

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here, Cleveland’s Medical Malpractice Lawyer. One of the biggest issues for potential causes of action that we see in medical malpractice cases has to do with misdiagnosis. Doctors must rule out or treat conditions that are the most life-threatening or most life-altering first. And when they don’t, patients can either die, become paralyzed, or lose a limb. A common example that we see in cases are cancer examples. So you have signs and symptoms of cancer, the doctor doesn’t act to treat or rule out, and then a year later that patient gets diagnoses with cancer and it’s no longer treatable. Other examples are much more short in a time frame. Things such as stroke, heart attack or a spine infection. These are conditions that are life-threatening or life-altering because it can cause paralysis permanently. If you or a loved one feel you are a victim of misdiagnosis, please give us a call or visit our website today.

One of the most common types of cases we see here in the office are cases involving sepsis. Now there’s really two types of cases involving sepsis. One, the failure to diagnose or a delay in diagnosing sepsis. Or two, a complete mismanagement of the condition. So folks, sepsis is very dangerous. It’s essentially blood poisoning. In other words, an infection has gotten into your bloodstream and it’s spreading throughout your body. Because of that, it’s very important that the condition is diagnosed timely and treated properly.

There’s really two things that we see here in the office that results, that can be caused, by a mismanagement of sepsis. Number one, because sepsis constricts the vessels, the arteries, constricts the blood flow to the limbs, because your blood pressure drops. And because of your blood pressure dropping, you then have to be put on pressers, which cause your blood pressure to increase. However, blood flow to the extremities is cut off. Folks, that leads to amputations. Your arms, your legs, might have to be chopped off if mismanaged. And because of that, I’ve seen cases where an individual had to have amputated both the legs and their arms as a result of these types of cases.

And obviously, if sepsis is really mismanaged, it can lead to death. Folks, if you or a loved one feel that sepsis was mismanaged, and as a result, your loved one or yourself had limbs amputated, or passed away please give us a call.

Folks, another type of case that we see a lot of times has to do with medication or prescription errors. The most common types of cases that we see are the wrong drug quantity; drug interactions with one another; when the medical provider knows that the patient has an allergy to the medicine yet still prescribes it. Those are the three most common that we see.

Some specific examples. There’s a drug by the name of Coumadin or Warfarin. It’s a very beneficial drug, because it prevents drug clots for those who have the heart condition called AFib. However, it can also be a very dangerous drug if not monitored properly. So, if you are on Coumadin or Warfarin, a doctor has to be monitoring that drug and your blood levels; meaning how thin or how thick your blood is in order to make sure that that drug is therapeutic. Otherwise there’s a big risk of you bleeding. And what I mean by that is, certainly if you fall and hit your head, you could have a brain bleed. But also just bleeding on its own. Again, a very dangerous drug but a very helpful drug that has to be monitored.

Another example that I saw in my own practice, had to do with a drug allergy. So in one specific type of case, a client of mine had to have some surgery. And she had an allergy to a specific class of drugs of anesthesia. She goes into the surgery, the drug allergy is in the system, but the anesthesiologist didn’t take the time to look at her drug allergy history. Gave her the drug. She had an anaphylactic reaction, anaphylactic shock. Oxygen was cut off to her brain and she suffered a brain injury as a result.

Folks, medication and prescription errors are very scary. And if you or a loved one has suffered an injury or death as a result of a medication or prescription error, please give us a call.

Folks, Allen Tittle here- Cleveland’s Medical Malpractice Lawyer. Another type of case that we see from time to time are surgical errors. Folks, there are simple rules that a doctor must follow when performing surgery. The most basic rule is that he or she must only cut when they know what they’re cutting! Unfortunately, that does not always happen. For example, I’ve had a case where an individual had to go in for gallbladder surgery. Unfortunately, the doctor cut through the wrong things- in this circumstance, something called the common bile duct, and rendered permanent, catastrophic injury to that patient because then that condition wasn’t discovered right away. Other types of things is the obvious, operating on the old body part. You go in for left knee surgery and they accidentally amputate your right. That happens more common than you think! But also, simple things like leaving instruments or sponges behind in the body after surgery. Folks, if you or a loved one has suffered medical malpractice as a result of a surgical error, please give me a call or visit my website today. Thank you, take care!

Allen Tittle, Cleveland’s Medical Malpractice Lawyer. I’ve discussed in the past that the third leading cause of death in America is Medical Malpractice. Let me repeat that. Right behind heart disease and cancer, the third leading cause of death is medical malpractice. This has to change. The most common types of medical malpractice that we see here in the office, and also, fortunately, studies have been done to show us what the most common medical malpractice claims are. In 2017, here in Ohio, 34% of medical malpractice claims had to do with Misdiagnosis, 24% had to do with surgical mistakes, 18% treatment mistakes, 10% birth injuries, 4% medication errors, 4% patient monitoring issues, and 6% other. Something has to be done to ensure that preventable deaths do not occur as a result of medical malpractice. One of the only ways that we can do that is through medical malpractice lawsuits. You folks that sit in that jury are the conscious of this community. If you or a loved one, or your father, your mother, husband, wife, feel that you are a victim of medical malpractice, please visit our website, give us a call, download our free E-Book. We have to do something to change this, and it starts with you. Take care.

“Allen Tittle here, Cleveland Medical Malpractice Lawyer. One of the most common questions we get is, “Allen, how do I know how to choose the best medical malpractice lawyer in Cleveland?” or “How do I know how to choose the top medical malpractice lawyer in the state of Ohio?” Well, first of all, there’s a few things that I would look for. But before I get into that, you need to know that, per our ethical rules, we cannot say that we specialize in medical malpractice. However, as a consumer, the first thing that I’d want to know is, as a lawyer, what is your focus? In other words, what is your practice focused on? Are you doing a divorce one day, a DUI the next, and then the third a personal injury case? OR, is your focus, in terms of your practice, on personal injury and medical malpractice cases? If it is, then that would be the first thing I would check off. The second thing I would ask is, “Have you actually went to trial in medical malpractice cases?” These cases rarely go to trial, but oftentimes, in order to hold that doctor or that hospital accountable, you need to hold their feet to the fire and go to a jury. So the second thing I would ask, “Have you actually tried medical malpractice cases?” The third thing that I would look for is, “Do you actually keep up with the latest trends of practice?” So, in other words, do you just sit back, you don’t learn the new tricks, OR are you innovative in your practice? Are you innovated in prosecuting these medical malpractice cases? Things like electronic medical records, audit trails, these things are always changing. You need to be up on the latest trends in medicine in order to successfully prosecute medical malpractice cases. And finally, I would take a look at past client reviews. Are former clients of that lawyer happy with what they got? And if they are, the next step is simply, do you connect with that lawyer? If you are going to hire a lawyer to prosecute a claim for the death of your wife, the death of your mother, you better feel comfortable with that person. I hope that gave some guidance on how to choose the best medical malpractice lawyer for you and your family. If you have any other questions, please visit our website or give us a call, (216)-230-7131. I’m Allen Tittle, Cleveland’s Medical Malpractice Lawyer. Take Care!”

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here; Cleveland’s the medical malpractice lawyer. One of the most common questions we get is ‘what is considered medical malpractice’ or ‘how do I know if I could sue for medical malpractice?’ Well, the answer is a little complex. The first thing that we look to is whether or not that medical professional (the doctor, the nurse, the anesthesiologist) broke the rules that others must follow. If they broke the rules then the next step we look to is was that the cause of a catastrophic injury or death? Once we have that answer we’re ready to go forward, and that’s when you can sue for medical malpractice. But it’s not quite that easy in the state of Ohio. We have to file what’s called an affidavit of Merit before we even get in the courtroom, which means that we have to have one doctor or other medical professionals sign an affidavit swearing that the other medical professional that we’re suing was negligent and that that negligence caused your damages. So, I hope that little tidbit helped answer the question of what is considered medical malpractice. But, if you have any other further questions feel free to give us a call or visit our website, thank you.

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here- Cleveland’s personal injury lawyer. A type of case that we handle here, at Tittle & Perlmuter, has to do with truck crashes. What I mean by that is, semi-truck crashes, big-rigs, 18-wheelers. Folks, 327,000 crashes a year involve big-rigs, semi-trucks. And as you can imagine, the injuries can be catastrophic as a result of these crashes, just because the semi-trucks are so big. Now, these big-rigs, there are a lot of rules and regulations that individuals must follow before they even get on the road. Did they check the breaks? Do they know how to operate these things? Do the drivers, have they taken the requisite breaks or naps needed? Remember, they’re going from point A, which could be on one side of the country, to point B, the complete other side. And they try and get there as fast as possible, and that’s not the safest. That’s not the safest for everyone else on the road. If you or a loved one is a victim or has been a victim of a crash involving a semi-truck, please give us a call or visit our website. Thank you, take care.

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here- Cleveland’s personal injury lawyer. I want to talk about pedestrian accidents, now that we’re in the middle of summer. Folks, pedestrian accidents are scary. Imagine: you get the walk signal, you’re walking in the middle of the crosswalk, you’re minding your own business. It’s in the middle of the day, you don’t think anyone’s coming- you don’t see anyone coming. Out of nowhere, a car tries to take a left hand turn, runs you down. You go flying over the car, you land on the road, you’re laying there. You wonder if you can move your legs, you hear sirens, you get loaded into the ambulance. I have that case. I’ve handled those cases, it’s scary. Folks, pedestrians have the right of way when they’re in the crosswalk and they have that walk signal. If there’s no walk signal, as long as they’re in the crosswalk, and they’re not getting in the way of vehicles that have the right of way, they have the right to cross the street. If you or a loved one has been run down by a car, a truck, when you’re a pedestrian, please visit our website and give us a call. We can help. Take care!

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here again. One common injury that we see here in our practice, as a result of car accidents, medical negligence or medical malpractice, or some other type of personal injury claim are traumatic brain injuries. 1.7 million people each year in the United States suffer from traumatic brain injuries, and as you can imagine those are life altering events that change your life forever.

Now there’s really two main causes of traumatic brain injuries that we see in our practice, our personal injury practice. It’s usually caused by blunt force trauma: you’re in a car crash, you hit your head. Or a lack of oxygen. Now when you suffer an injury from blunt force trauma, the symptoms are very similar to a concussion, because a concussion is a brain injury. So headaches, vomiting, dizziness. It’s very important if you have those symptoms to seek medical attention immediately because you may have a brain bleed, causing your brain to swell. And if the proper medical treatment is not provided, you could die.

The other type that I mentioned before, the lack of oxygen brain injury, it’s pretty much the symptoms you see in a stroke and the long-term effects are the same. So you could have one-sided paralysis, weakness of the limbs, dizziness, short-term and long-term memory loss. All these things can occur as a result of a traumatic brain injury.

And folks, I want to sort of emphasize that what makes traumatic brain injuries unique, are that you can look at the person and think oh they look fine. But in reality, they’ve suffered a traumatic injury that has changed their life. If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of someone else’s negligence – either in a car accident, semi-truck crash, medical malpractice – please give us a call or visit our website today. Thank you, take care.

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here, Cleveland’s paralysis lawyer. One thing I want to talk about today is spinal cord injuries. Folks, 282,000 people a year in the United States of America suffer a spinal cord injury that leads to paralysis. There’s two big types of paralysis that I see in my practice, basically involving paralysis from the neck down or the waist down. And the cause of those injuries often time are preventable, and that’s where lawyers step in.

The main sort of areas that I’ve seen in play result in spinal cord injuries are both medical malpractice or crash crashes, truck crashes or motorcycle crashes. So, if we sort of delineate between the two, medical malpractice and crashes. The most common type of medical malpractice cases that result in spinal cord injury are anesthesia errors. And what I mean by that is, say you’re getting a “spinal” for a surgery and the anesthesiologist makes a mistake; either hits the spinal cord the wrong way and creates a hematoma, which puts pressure on that spinal cord. It swells up and creates instability, and is not diagnosed, eventually that patient becomes paralyzed.

Other options or cases that I’ve seen is a failure or delay in diagnoses of an infection in the spinal cord itself, in the bone. Folks that creates instability in the spine, and if not surgically fixed, oftentimes that can lead to paralysis. Obvious ones: falls or being dropped in the hospital unfortunately can cause paralysis.

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here again. One type of case that we handle quite often are car accidents or car crashes. The first thing that a client always asks us, or someone who gives us a call, is Allen what should I do if I was in a car crash or a car accident? Well the answer is, first, call the police. It’s very important that a police report is made and an independent investigation is carried out to determine who is at-fault at the crash. The second thing is, make sure you have the insurance info of the at-fault driver, or the driver who hit you. Now, it should be on the police report but it’s always good to be safe and to make sure you have that info.

Third, and this is the most important, if you are injured get help immediately. Don’t try to tough it out, don’t try to be a strong man or woman, and think that you don’t need medical care. In the eyes of the insurance company, if you did not receive medical treatment then you’re not hurt and you’re not in pain. So please if you are injured, go to the hospital, go to urgent care, go see your doctor. Fourth, before you talk to the insurance company and certainly before you sign any papers, make sure that you call a lawyer to discuss your options. Folks, insurance companies are trained to try and settle these claims quick and for the least amount of money possible. It’s very important that you call a lawyer and get their advice before you do.

I hope that answered some questions in terms of what should you do if you’re in a car crash. And folks, if you or a loved one have been hurt in a car crash, please give us a call or visit our website today. Thank you, take care.

I want to talk about signs that your loved one is suffering through nursing home abuse or neglect. The first thing I would look out for are pressure sores. Pressure sores are caused by, you guessed it, pressure. In nursing homes, these are a known problem. To reduce pressure sores, patients need to be turned or repositioned every two hours. If understaffing is an issue at these nursing homes, that isn’t occurring and pressure sores are developing.

Other things I would look out for are frequent falls. If your loved one is suffering from frequent falls, even if they don’t suffer a fracture, you should be at attention and looking for signs of nursing abuse and neglect. Significant weight loss is another issue you should look out for in nursing homes. Folks, nursing homes should have nutritionists on staff to look out for weight loss and malnutrition. If your loved one is withering away, quite literally, this is a sign of nursing home neglect and abuse.

Hey folks, Allen Tittle here, Cleveland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyer. A common type of case that we see here in our office has to do with wandering or elopement. What does that mean? It means the individuals, the residents, of the nursing homes who have dementia, alzheimer’s, wander away, or elope away, from the nursing home and it leads to catastrophic results. You’ve probably seen these stories in the news: the resident wanders out the door, is missing, is found two days later in the swamp next to the nursing home, dead. Folks, we’ve handled these cases, they’re sad. Just because someone is elderly and has dementia, doesn’t mean they should die that way. If you’ve had a loved one who fell victim of elopement or wandering from their nursing home, and unfortunately has passed away as a result, please give us a call or visit our website. Thank you, take care.

Allen Tittle, Cleveland Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse Lawyer. I wanted to shoot a quick video because I read a story over the weekend that really
upset me. It’s a story out of Arizona relating to a woman who was in a permanent, vegetative state, who was a resident of a nursing home, and recently gave birth. Let me give a little background- If someone is in a permanent, vegetative state, that means, essentially, they’re a vegetable. And the only way that they could become pregnant is if they were raped. The initial news stories indicate that they suspect it was an employee of the nursing home who committed the rape. This shouldn’t happen. Unfortunately, things like this, sexual abuse and rape in nursing homes, happen more than
you realize. The number one cause for something like this is actually understaffing within a nursing home. If there isn’t enough staff to keep an eye on the residents and the fellow employees,
it allows monsters like those who worked in this Arizona nursing home to commit heinous crimes like rape. Here at Tittle & Perlmuter, we do everything in our power to make sure things like this do not happen in the future. Every nursing home case we take on, we look at the understaffing aspect of the case to make sure that others in the future aren’t harmed. If you or a loved one suspect that there’s not enough staff at this nursing home, I would check out all of the materials that we have on our website, tittlelawfirm.com to assist. Or, if you just want to talk further, please give us a call, (216)-285-9991. I’m Allen Tittle, a nursing home neglect and abuse lawyer, and I’m here to help. Thanks, take care!

Allen Tittle here, Cleveland Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse Lawyer. I know that this may seem crazy, but my goal as a lawyer is to make sure that I don’t have any cases. What do I mean by that? The purpose of every case is to make sure that nursing home neglect and abuse no longer takes place. And because of that, I had an idea. That idea is to create a three part series, in videos, in describing and explaining, “What is the Best Way to Pick a Nursing Home for Your Loved One?” So, the first thing I want to discuss is, what resources are available to the public to make that decision? Well, the most important, I think the one that gives the most detail, is the resources available on Medicare.gov. Medicare rates each nursing home with a five-star rating, and that five-star rating encompasses a lot of different things, but the important ones? Number one- the staffing level of these nursing homes. So when you’re looking at this Medicare five-star rating, it gives an overall score, but then it gives a subscore of the staffing. Folks, that’s the most important thing you can look at. If I am choosing a nursing home for my loved one, I’m going to pick the ones that have the best staff rating. The second resource is the U.S. News & World Report on nursing home rankings. Now, it’s a little less in-depth than Medicare, but I would still check that out. The third resource you can take a look at is our own website. We have two great resources that are free that you can take a look at in helping your decision. Number one, we have a free e-book that describes how to pick a nursing home for your loved one. Number two, we have created an interactive map of every nursing home in Ohio and rated those nursing homes by the staffing levels found on Medicare.gov’s website. Folks, there’s nothing more important than making sure your brother, husband, sister, mother, has the best possible care. They don’t deserve anything else. If you have any other questions, please visit our website, check out our free resources like the e-book and the interactive staffing map, or give me a call (216)-230-7131. I’m Allen Tittle, Cleveland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyer, and I’m here to help you. Take care!

Folks, Allen Tittle here, Cleveland Nursing home neglect and abuse lawyer on the road today in Columbus, Ohio, Rainy Columbus, Ohio. I stopped off the exit here and I don’t know where I am, Sunbury Starbucks, to get a little juice on the way home. When I say juice, I mean coffee. Just got done taking the deposition of two corporate individuals in a pressure sore wrongful death nursing home case, folks when you’re choosing a lawyer to handle a nursing home case, you gotta make sure you hire one that’s willing to look at these under staffing clamps and the only way to get to the heart of it, is to go to the belly of the beast, corporate headquarters, which I did today and take depositions of the corporate individuals who set the budgets for the staffing numbers at these individual facilities. These are sad cases and I’m thankful that the family chose to hire me to pursue it and I just hope that I can pursue this case as aggressively as I can and get them justice. So folks, if you or a loved one has a case involving nursing home neglect or abuse, please when interviewing lawyers to take on the case, please ask them “Are you willing to go to the belly of the beast and figure out why my loved one didn’t have the proper staffing he or she needed to get the care that they deserved.? Allen Tittle here, nursing home neglect and abuse lawyer, signing off. For truth. For justice. For you.

Hey, everybody! Scott Perlmuter here today with Tittle & Perlmuter to talk to you about wage and hour issues regarding minimum wage and overtime pay. It comes up in a lot of our cases, and that is- employers changing clock in and clock out times of their employees. So, a lot of people call us up and ask, “Is my employer allowed to change the times when I punch in and punch out on a timeclock?” Surprisingly, perhaps, the answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no. So, let’s say for instance that you’re supposed to clock out manually at the end of the day and you forget to do so, so it looks like you’re working overnight until you come in the next day. In that situation, or situations that are similar to that, your employer is allowed to change your timeclock records. And same situation would apply if there was sometime during the day that you went on a break that’s longer than 30 minutes and your employer knows that you’re not working, they can change your time records, potentially, under those circumstances. That being said, in just about 100 percent of the cases that we evaluate where employers HAVE changed time records, they did not follow the law in doing so and they did so under circumstances that were illegal. So, if you have questions about your time records and your employers adjustment of your time records, the best thing that you can do is give me a call, 216-208-1522, we’ll talk through your issue and I can let you know whether or not what your employer is doing in your situation complies with the law. Also, if you want information about wage and hour laws generally, and issues about time clock changing, you can visit one of our websites, we have two websites that have information about these issues. One is overtimelawyersohio.com, the other one is our main website, which is tittlelawfirm.com. Thank you very much!

Hey, everybody! Attorney Scott Perlmuter here to talk to you today about your retirement benefits and whether or not you’re being shorted retirement benefits that you’re owed in violation of the law. So, in 2018, as most of us know, the stock market hit record highs, it was almost 27,000 in the month of October, and yet, a lot of us saw our retirement accounts not keep up with the stock market, maybe you were even losing money as the stock market was reaching these highs. At Tittle & Perlmuter, we handle all kinds of employee benefits cases, including those that are in regards to retirement pension plans, and your employer, as the sponsor for your retirement plan, has an obligation to make sure the fees that they’re paying for whoever’s managing your funds don’t exceed a reasonable fee. They also have a duty to make sure that the investment options that you’re provided are reasonable investment options and adequate for your needs as an employee. So, if you have questions about why my retirement account has not been keeping up with the market or why am I losing money in my retirement account, the best thing that you can do is give me a call, 216-308-1522 and we can talk through it. Or, you can visit our website, tittlelawfirm.com that has tons of relevant and helpful information about the laws that govern employee benefit plans and what you should be looking out for. Thank you very much!

Hey everybody, Attorney Scott Perlmuter, Cleveland’s Wage and hour lawyer here to talk to you today about a question that I get asked frequently by service employees, specifically police and firefighters, about whether or not they are entitled to overtime pay. So, first of all, if you’re a police or firefighter and you’re not a supervisor, you’re probably entitled to some form of overtime pay, but there are two ways in which overtime pay for those two types of employees can be different from people in private sector. First, people in the private sector they work over 40 hours a week and they’re not exempt from the wage and hour laws they get time and a half for hours words over 40 in a week. So, you get time and a half your regular rate of pay. Police or firefighters or other service employees, your employer can give you a comp times like paid time off instead of the actual pay of time and a half, so that’s difference number one. Difference number two, private sector employees are, this is a work week by work week law so, basically it’s usually Saturday to Sunday for most kinds of employees or whatever your employer sets, you get one work week, you work over 40 hours in a week you get, overtime pay. When you’re a government employee, let’s say working for the police or fire department, then it’s not necessarily a work week by work week law, they can set periods, whether it’s 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and that’s the period that you look at to see whether or not you get that overtime pay or comp-pay. So, comments, questions, place them in the area below or feel free to give me call. For truth. For justice. For you.

Hey, everybody. Cleveland’s fair pay lawyer Scott Perlmuter here to talk to you today about a question that’s on the minds of a lot of my clients and a lot of people that call in here and that is can my boss just cut my rate of pay or do they have to give me notice before they cut my rate of pay? Unfortunately, the answer for most employees out there is that there’s not really a law that protects you getting a certain rate of pay – that is unless you have a contract with your employer. That says, you’re gonna be paid a certain rate, but an offer letter usually is not even gonna be enough to cover you on that end, so a lot of times employers really can cut your rate of pay even without notifying you first, the one caveat I would give you and that you should look into this happens to you, is that an employer is not allowed to retroactively change the rate of pay. So let’s say an employer says that they’re gonna pay you 15 bucks an hour to a certain job, and then you complete that job. They can’t thereafter than say, we’re only gonna pay you 12 bucks an hour for the work that you’ve already performed. So, if you got any questions, concerns, comments, drop in the area below. For truth. For justice. For you.

Hey everybody, Scott Perlmuter here, responding to one of the questions we get most often about wage and hour issues. Can my boss make me work off the clock? Not surprisingly, the answer to this question in almost every case is no. You should not be working off the clock. Now, one of two contexts this comes up that people get a little confused about. One, if you aren’t clocking in and clocking out on the job. Some employers don’t make their employees clock in and out at the job, but if you’re an hourly employee (and even in some cases for salaried employees), you should be clocking in and out. Your employer should be having you do that. They’re required to do it by law. They’re required to keep track of those hours to maintain them. The other context that it comes up is salaried employees. Salaried employees may still have to, their hours may still have to be kept by their employers. So, if you’re one of those two categories, that may be something that’s a little bit confusing to you, but you should never be working off the clock. If you are, you should be calling a lawyer. If you ever have any questions about some situation at your job, being required to work off the clock or otherwise, call us at 216-308-1522. Or go to our website, tittlelawfirm.com.

Hey everybody! Scott Perlmuter here, Wage & Hour lawyer from Tittle & Perlmuter, here to talk to you today about minimum wage and overtime laws and how they apply to commissioned employees. When I say commissioned employees, I’m really talking about sales employees who are compensated either entirely or partially by commissions. I am not talking about tipped employees, like waiters and waitresses. That’s for another video, so you get to see my smiling face again for that.

So, generally speaking, commissioned employees are entitled to minimum wage for all hours that they work during each pay period. So that means for each hour that you worked during a two-week pay period or whatever your particular pay period is, you’re entitled to that number of hours that you worked during that pay period times your state’s minimum wage. Which in Ohio, we’ve got our minimum wage up to $8.30. There are some exceptions to that rule, but they are too rare and too complex to discuss in a short video here. So, if you have questions about that just give me a call.

As for overtime pay, that really depends on your industry and how you’re paid. Some commissioned employees like car salesmen pretty much across the board do not get overtime pay – do not get one-and-a-half times the regular rate of pay. For most commissioned employees, it depends on how much you’re paid and how you’re paid. So for many commissioned employees, for them not to receive overtime, over 50% of their pay has to come from commissions as opposed to hourly or salary pay. And, each pay period your commission plus hourly and salary has to equal at least one-and-a-half times your state’s minimum wage. Again, in Ohio our minimum wage is $8.30. So each pay period your pay would have to be at least $12.45 times the number of hours you’ve worked. So if you have any questions about any kind of pay issues and you’re a commissioned sales employee, give me a call and we’ll work through it.

Hey everybody Scott Perlmutter here today to give you your daily dose of overtime law knowledge. This is an issue that may be depriving you of overtime pay that you’re entitled to, it’s something that both employers and employees have a lack of knowledge about that we find in so many of our cases. That is determining the proper rate of pay for your overtime rate, so you let’s say you get paid 10 bucks an hour you probably think from time over 40 hours in a week I get time and a half that means $15 an hour. Some cases you may be right, some cases, many cases you may be wrong, because if you’re paid an hourly rate but you get extra pay for certain things at work, so let’s say you get a travel bonus let’s say you get a driving bonus, let’s say you get a shift differential and say you get sales, bonuses, commission’s, those are all additional pay that have to be added back into your base rate, before your overtime rate is calculated. So where as me make 10 bucks an hour for your regular hourly rate, those additional amounts have to be added back in that would cause your $15 an hour pay for hours over 40 to be increased based on those numbers, the calculations can be really complex and so should basically if you’ve got a question about this give me a call we’ll go through your pay we’ll go through your hours worked and we’ll figure out what is the proper hourly rate and have you been shorted overtime that you worked. So you got questions, one thing you can do is visit our website which has a ton of good information on this we have a website devoted just to overtime and minimum wage laws and that is overtimelawyersOhio.com you can visit our main website tittlelawfirm.com that’s got also some helpful information about wage and hour laws, or you can give me a call (216)308-1522 Scott Perlmutter, I’m happy to talk to you any time about your minimum wage and overtime questions. Thanks.

Hey everybody, Attorney Scott Perlmuter here today to talk to you about salary deductions. What is my employer doing? It it proper, improper, how they’re going about this? So, you may receive a salary at your job, meaning you get paid the same amount, whether you work 40 or 80 hours in a week. In some circumstances, that may be okay. However, if your employer is taking deductions out of your salary, there are very limited circumstances where they’re allowed to do that and not pay you overtime for hours worked over 40 a week. So, for instance, the only categories, really, of deductions that they can take properly from your salary would be personal days, they’re not for sickness or disability, if you have been compensated for jury duty or for military leave, or if you have a disciplinary suspension for violating a company safety rule or something of that sort. So, if you are paid a salary but you get deducted from your pay for other reasons, let’s say that there’s just not enough work to do or something along those lines, then your employer may be violating wage and hour rules, meaning that you may be entitled to overtime for time worked over 40 hours in a week. If your employer is deducting any pay from your salary and you have any questions, the best thing you can do is visit one of our websites, Overtime Lawyers Ohio has a bunch of information dedicated just to wage and hour issues, and also, on our main website, tittlelawfirm.com, we’ve got plenty of information there as well about various wage and hour issues. Or, you can give me a call at (216)-308-1522, I’m happy to talk to you anytime. Thank you very much!

Hey, everybody! Scott Perlmuter here again today to drop some knowledge bombs on you about wage and hour issues. And the specific issue that I’m here to talk about today is: Common industries where we see violations of wage and hour laws run rampant. So, understand that under federal and state wage and hour laws, there are certain jobs and certain industries that the employers may be exempt, if they follow the rules, from paying their employees overtime. However, those are the industries where employees will cut corners, they’ll fudge the issues, they don’t know the nuances of the law, and therefore, they’ll call one of their employees or sets of employees exempt from overtime when they’re really not exempt from overtime. So, what industries are we seeing violations most commonly in? IT Industry, computer workers, network technicians, service technicians of any sort, cable workers for instance, big violators in that industry. Sales representatives, healthcare workers, home health nurses, tipped employees in the restaurant industry, big violators of wage and hour laws. Oil and gas field workers, bankers and mortgage brokers, big violations in that industry, specifically when it comes to commissions and bonuses, retail employees, big violations in that industry as well. So, if you work in one of these industries or you work in ANY industry and you’ve got questions about the way that you’re being paid and whether the pay practices at your employer are in accordance with the wage and hour laws, give me a call, 216-308-1522, I’ll be happy to talk through your issue, or visit our website, tittlelawfirm.com, or we have a website that’s devoted just to wage and hour issues and that is overtimelawyersohio.com. Scott Perlmuter, thanks for listening!