What happened
When your pay doesn’t match your hours
Missing overtime, clipped breaks, tips that disappear, a last check that never came. Unpaid wages are the most common problem we see.
You’re owed pay for every hour you work, and in most hourly jobs that includes time and a half past forty hours in a week. Calling someone a manager or a contractor doesn’t change that by itself; what the job really looks like does.
Wage cases are built on records, and you probably have more than you think: pay stubs, a schedule photo, texts about covering a shift, the time your car was parked in the lot. We help you put them together.
What short pay often looks like
Off-the-clock work
Setting up before you punch in, closing after you punch out, finishing paperwork at home.
No overtime
Over forty hours a week at straight pay, or split across two pay cards so it never shows.
Tips taken or shared wrongly
Managers in the tip pool, or a card fee taken out of your tips.
The wrong label
Paid as a contractor or on salary for a job that’s really hourly work.
Questions about back pay
I was paid in cash. Can I still do something?
Yes. Cash pay doesn’t remove your right to minimum wage and overtime. Your own notes, texts and bank deposits can show what you worked.
How far back can I go?
There are time limits, and they differ by claim. We’ll look at your dates on the first call.
Will I get in trouble for my immigration status?
We don’t ask about it to take a wage case, and it doesn’t change your right to be paid for work you did.
Think your pay came up short?
Bring your stubs, a schedule or nothing at all. We’ll work out what’s missing with you.
Our help is free for workers who qualify. We tell you about any court cost before it comes up.