Advantages of Hiring Minimum Wage Claim Attorneys

Are you underpaid in your job and don’t know what to do?

When this happens, you are certainly in a bad situation. Imagine you have been working very hard to ensure you receive your hard-earned salary or hourly wages but it turned out that it is beyond the minimum wage. The last thing you need is to fight by yourself with your employer over your compensation. You may want to consider hiring a minimum wage claim attorney.

Filing a minimum wage claim is not easy as it seems. You need to have someone expert on the Minimum Wage Law or other employment laws.

A minimum wage claim attorney will help you file a wage claim against your employer. But in case you have not yet hired a lawyer to assist you in filing your claim, you can do the following steps to improve your chances of getting the best recovery possible of the wages due you:

• Keep the detailed and complete records to support your wage claim. If you think that your pay is incorrect, keep records of the hours of work you have spent and any correspondence from your employer or bank regarding your pay. Also, keep a record of expenses you incurred because you did not get paid or paid less.


• Secure important facts. Ask your employer the reasons why you are underpaid. This is to make sure that there has been no mistake in the computation of your pay. If you are a member of a union, you can seek the union’s help.


• Make a formal request with your employer. Exhaust remedies in accordance with your company policy. Be sure to keep a copy of said request.


• Plan your course of action.

Under the law, an employer is required to pay his/her employees with the minimum hourly, daily or monthly wage specified under it. When your employer does not observe what the law provides, then you are given the right to file a minimum wage claim against him/her.

If your employer does not comply with the requirement, you are entitled to recover, in addition to penalty and attorney’s fees, the following:

• Unpaid salary, together with commissions and bonuses


• Wages paid by check issued with insufficient funds


• Last paycheck not received


• Unused vacation hours that were unpaid upon severance of the employment relationship, e.g., terminated, discharge, or layoff.


• Unauthorized or illegal deductions from paychecks.


• Unpaid or unreturned business expenses.


• Failure to give a meal and/or rest period provided under the applicable Industrial Welfare Commission Order.

Employees do have legal employment rights for as long as they are willing to insist on them and fight for them. Remember, your effort alone for fighting illegal employment practices may inutile in comparison to the influence and machinery of your employer. In times like this, you need to hire the best minimum wage claim lawyer there is to uphold and protect your rights at all times and without any delays.