Wage theft is a serious crime that affects millions of workers. When employers don’t pay you the full amount you’ve earned, you can lose out on thousands in compensation.
The most common forms of wage theft include paying employees less than the minimum wage and not paying for overtime. However, other forms of wage theft cost employees millions of dollars every year.
These eleven common forms of wage theft are all illegal. If your employer violated your rights, a wage theft lawyer can help.
1. Paying Less Than Minimum Wage
Federal and state laws say employers must receive at least the minimum wage for all hours worked. Paying less than minimum wage qualifies as wage theft.
In New York state, the minimum wage is several dollars higher than the federal minimum wage, with an even higher minimum wage in New York City. Employers must pay the higher amount in areas with a higher minimum wage.
If your employer does not pay minimum wage, you can file a wage claim. You can receive unpaid wages plus damages equal to the amount of your unpaid wages, known as double damages.
2. Not Paying Overtime
Employers must pay overtime when employees work over 40 hours in one week. Employees should receive time and a half pay for every hour worked over 40 hours in a week. Employers cannot average the number of hours worked during a two-week pay period to deny overtime. It is also against the law to misclassify an employee as overtime exempt when they should receive overtime.
The penalties for unpaid overtime include double the unpaid wages plus fines.
3. Illegally Withholding Tips
Tips should go to employees for service provided to the customer. When employers withhold tips or distribute tips to people ineligible to receive tips, this qualifies as wage theft. For example, including managers at a restaurant in the tip pool violates labor laws. Similarly, employers cannot charge a mandatory service charge and withhold that money from servers without clearly informing customers that the money is not a tip.
4. Automatically Deducting Time for Meal Breaks
Under New York state law, employees must receive meal breaks. State law grants employees an unpaid half-hour lunch break when they work a shift of more than six hours. Employers must pay for breaks if you have to perform any work during break time, including checking work emails or answering phone calls.
Employers cannot automatically deduct unpaid meal breaks. If work regularly interrupts your meal break, your employer owes you money for that time, plus fines and penalties.
5. Improper Deduction for Damages
Your employer cannot make certain deductions from your paycheck. Employers can deduct wages when required by law, such as income taxes, or for your benefit, like health insurance. In all other cases, your employer must ask for your agreement in writing.
Illegal deductions include: spoilage or breakage, cash shortages or losses, a customer’s failure to pay their bill, and fines or penalties for lateness, misconduct, or quitting without notice.
It is also against the law for your employer to ask for kickbacks by threatening your job.
6. Not Paying For “Off The Clock” Work
Employers must pay their employees for all hours worked. If you arrive at work at 8:55 a.m. every day, but your computer takes twenty minutes to install updates before you can officially clock in, you are still entitled to wages for those twenty minutes. These rules apply to all employees, including office workers.
7. Misclassifying as Overtime Exempt
Overtime laws guarantee additional pay for certain employees, but employers may misuse the classification system. If an employee has been improperly classified as overtime-exempt, they must receive back wages.
8. Abusing Unpaid Interns
The Fair Labor Standards Act defines the term “employ” very broadly. In the for-profit private sector, employers can only offer unpaid internships under very specific criteria set by the DOL: the internship must resemble educational training, benefit the intern, not displace regular employees, provide no immediate advantage to the employer, carry no promise of a job, and both parties must understand it is unpaid. Unpaid internships that violate these standards are illegal, and interns should be paid and classified as employees.
9. Not Paying for Remote Work
Employees often use mobile devices to send and receive work-related emails. Employers must pay their workers for the time reading and responding to emails and text messages while not on site. If employers do not pay employees for remote work, they are violating the law.
10. Misclassification as an Independent Contractor
Wage theft laws provide fewer protections for independent contractors. In some cases, employers misclassify independent contractors who should be employees. If an employer inappropriately classified an employee as an independent contractor, the employee must receive back wages.
11. Not Paying Spread-of-Hours Pay
In New York, employers must pay you an additional hour of pay if you work more than ten hours in a single workday. This is called spread-of-hours pay. The law also covers split shifts: if you work the lunch rush at a restaurant and then return in the evening, you must receive spread-of-hours pay if your arrival and departure time exceed ten hours.
What To Do About Wage Theft
If you are the victim of wage theft, you have rights. Every day, employers illegally deny employees money and benefits. A New York wage theft lawyer can help.
Charles Joseph has over two decades of experience in wage theft cases. His firm has recovered more than $140 million for victims of wage theft and other employment violations. Contact Charles Joseph for a free consultation today.