Are you a victim of unpaid salaries or wage theft? Is your employer refusing to pay for the overtime you spent at job? If your answer is yes to any of above-mentioned questions, you should contact an unpaid wages lawyer. Experienced lawyers ask various questions to evaluate an unpaid wages lawsuit. You should be prepared for this process to clarify your situation and problems.
Following are few of the questions that unpaid wages attorneys ask their clients –
How many hours you work?
This is the first question that every attorney asks whenever you contact them for unpaid wages claim. They inquire about your normal and extra working hours. For example, usually there are 40 hours for work in a workweek. Every hour spent working over 40 is considered overtime.
How and what you are paid?
It should be the next question. Some employees are paid hourly while others are salaried. Labor and employment lawyers inquire about the payment process to evaluate their case. They ensure if their client has been actually cheated on payments by their employers. Sometimes an employee wants to gloss over the answer and says “I’m paid salary so I don’t receive overtime” and think that’s the end of the discussion. Sometimes, that’s just the beginning! Even if you’re on salary you may still be entitled to overtime.
They also inquire about the regular rate of your pay to ensure that you are getting minimum wages (if applicable according to your occupation). They make sure that overtime rate is one and a half of the regular rate.
How was your time tracked?
Attorneys also ask their clients how their time was tracked. Usually, time is recorded through computer, clock and in writing at workplaces. Lawyers generally ask if there is a record or not of their working hours. Don’t worry if you don’t have records, it’s the employer’s duty to keep them and their failure to maintain them can be used against them.
What are the most common reasons provided by employer for not paying wages or overtime?
Employers provide variety of reasons to their employees to justify their decision of not paying proper wages and overtime. Attorneys inquire about the reason employers provided them for not paying fair salary. It includes reasons like your occupation is exempt from overtime, lunch hours are not included in overtime, you are a salaried employee, or anything else for that matter.
Details of your work and your employer
Attorney will ask questions about the details of your workplace. They will also inquire about your work type, location of workplace, people involved in case (if any), company’s details, their working hours, payment methods and more. All these details help lawyers in properly evaluating the case.
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