Unpaid Wages and other Employment Violation Claims: Filing a Claim

Federal and state wage and hour laws set the standards for minimum wage that a worker or employee is entitled to receive as compensation. These laws also deal with issues such as payment and timing of wages, commissions, overtime and vacation, rest and meal periods, alternative work schedules, time-keeping requirements, and other rules related to the working conditions of the work force.

Under these laws, employers are required to comply with the following:

• Provide employees with meal and rest breaks
• Make accurate time records of employees’ start of work and breaks
• Make a record of the employees’ rates of pay and the total hours worked in a payroll period
• Define the workday and the workweek

Generally, wage and hour laws were created to protect workers and employees and ensure that they receive fair compensation as prescribed by law. Despite this, some employers fail to comply, continue to violate the laws, or deny workers their due compensation.

Some common employer violations related to wages include the following:

1. Non-payment of correct and legally-prescribed minimum wage
2. Non-payment of overtime
3. Making employees work off the clock and not paying them
4. Over-deduction from tips
5. Deduction for wages paid in goods

Unpaid Wages Violations

When an employer fails to pay his employee’s wages, the employee is entitled to seek wage and hour claim. If the employee prevails, he/she is entitled to unpaid back wages and back benefits.

Generally, wage and hour claims involve three main types of employment law violations:

• Misclassification of hourly employees – this is evident when non-exempt employees are mistaken classified as exempt and therefore, do not receive overtime wages, meal periods and break time which they are entitled to receive under the law.
• Independent contractors – when some workers or employees are mistakenly classified as independent contractors but receive all the pay and benefits provided to regular employees
• When mid-level managers tasked with supervising employees spend their time mainly in actual operations

Unpaid Wage Claims

When an employee files a wage claim, he may recover the following:

• Unpaid wages, including commissions and bonuses
• Final paycheck not received
• Wages paid by check issued with insufficient funds
• Unauthorized deductions from paychecks
• Unpaid/ unreimbursed business expenses
• Unused vacation hours that were not paid after termination
• Payment for denied meal and rest periods

Under the law, an employee may file a wage claim within the following time period from the date the claim arose:

1. Two years – when the claim is based on an oral agreement
2. Three years – for claims involving minimum wage, unpaid overtime, and other statutory claims
3. Four years – when a claim is based on a written agreement