Employment Legal Help If your employer has been stealing your hard-earned money, you will be upset. It is an uneasy feeling of disappointment and anger.
There are many ways wage theft takes place, so you will need to be attentive and review all your pay records to see how long theft has been taking place as well as the total losses that you have suffered.
There are many ways that your employer can steal your wages. Often, these acts go unnoticed for years.
If you are not attentive to your paychecks and to your hours worked, you may not realize that you are having your hard-earned money stolen from you. Remember to always check your paystubs and paycheck, and you should maintain thorough work records for your reference.
If you pay close attention, you can catch the problem early on before you lose more money. You want to get the issue under control as quickly as possible.
Kinds Of Wage Theft
There are many ways that wage theft can take place. You must pay attention so you can notice if you have become a victim of wage theft.
One common cause of wage theft is when the employer refuses to pay what he or she agreed to pay you. In this case, you may not be paid the agreed hourly rate, or you may not be paid for all the hours that you worked.
There could be minimum wage violations. Federal and state laws require your employer to pay you minimum wage.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but many states have higher minimum wages. If you are a server or waiter in a restaurant you can be paid less, but you must earn enough tips to make up the difference and get you to minimum wage.
There are laws pertaining to overtime as well. If you work over 40 hours per week you are entitled to overtime pay.
Overtime pay is 1.5 times your regular salary. If you are not being paid overtime for those extra hours worked, then you are the victim of wage theft and your employer has broken the laws.
Sometimes employers make illegal deductions. They cannot deduct more than your insurance coverage costs, and they cannot charge you for workers’ compensation insurance.
They cannot take out more than the specified state and federal taxes either. If you have suffered any of these kinds of wage theft, then you should file legal action and ask for compensation for your damages.
What Can You Do?
If you have suffered from wage theft, you have legal rights. You will need evidence as it is very important in a wage theft case.
You will need copies of work logs, time sheets, or timecards with the dates and hours that you worked. You will also need to make sure any and all breaks are indicated.
You will need copies of all your paystubs to show how much you were paid for that time.
You should keep your handbook and any employment contract. You should also maintain a file of any other work-related documents that may help you, such as memos, emails, and so forth.
Also, statements from coworkers and supervisors can also help you with your claim.
Submitting Your Complaint
If you have been the victim of wage theft, you should compile all the necessary documents to get a complaint filed.
You will need to make sure you have everything in order so you can support your claim and prove what damages you suffered and that you were a victim of your employer’s illegal actions and specifically wage theft.
There are specific processes that must be followed for filing a complaint, so make sure you have the procedure in order and that you follow everything specifically by detail. You don’t want to mess up your chance to recover compensation for your losses.
How An Employment Lawyer Can Help
If you believe that you have been subjected to wage theft by your employer, then you should contact an employment law attorney.
While how employment law attorneys are paid does vary, there are lawyers who take wage theft cases on a contingency basis.
You don’t want to wait until it is too late to recover compensation for your losses. Complete the Free Case Evaluation Form on this page to share details with an attorney who handles such cases in your area.