Unpaid wages and overtime
Overtime, tips and final paychecks you never got
Wage claims are arithmetic. We do it with you, hour by hour, before anyone files anything.
Unpaid wages come in many shapes: overtime that isn't paid at time and a half, work before clocking in or after clocking out, tips kept by a manager, a salary that's used to dodge overtime, deductions you never agreed to, or a last paycheck that never arrived.
How we count it
- Your hours, from pay stubs, schedules, texts, badge records or your own notes
- Your rate, and the overtime rate that should have applied
- The weeks it went on, back as far as the law allows
- What federal and state law add on top of the wages themselves
If you don't have records
You probably have more than you think. Your phone knows when you arrived and left. Coworkers remember the schedule. And the law expects your employer to have kept the records; when it didn't, a careful estimate of your own can stand in.
Questions about unpaid wages and overtime
I'm salaried. Can I still be owed overtime?
Often, yes. A salary alone doesn't remove the right to overtime; your duties and your pay level decide it.
Can several of us bring the claim together?
Yes. When the same pay practice affected a group, we can bring the claims together, which spreads the work and the risk.
Will I be fired for asking?
Firing someone for raising a wage complaint is itself against the law, and a claim of its own.
Write down what happened, then send it to us
Dates, names and what was said. A lawyer reads it and writes back to you.