If your employer shorted your paycheck or never paid you at all, you have two ways to recover unpaid wages: file a free complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, or sue your employer directly in court. Either route can get you the money you’re owed, and under the Fair Labor Standards Act a successful claim entitles you to the unpaid amount plus an equal sum in liquidated damages, effectively doubling your recovery.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties The clock is short, though, so the sooner you act the better.
Confirm What You’re Owed
Before you file anything, get clear on what counts as an earned wage. A wage becomes earned the moment you complete the work your employer hired you to do; at that point the money is a debt, not a promise. State wage payment laws define wages broadly to cover any compensation owed under an employment agreement, whether calculated hourly, by task, by commission, or otherwise.
The debt is not limited to your base pay. Commissions and bonuses become earned wages once you’ve satisfied every condition your employer set for earning them. Accrued vacation time is treated in many states as deferred compensation that must be paid out when you leave. Compensable “hours worked” also stretches beyond your core job: time your employer knows or has reason to know you’re putting in counts, even if nobody asked you to stay late. Travel between job sites during the workday is paid. A one-day out-of-town assignment is paid, minus your usual commute. Training and meetings must be paid unless they fall outside your regular hours, attendance is voluntary, the content is unrelated to your job, and you do no productive work while attending; if any one of those conditions fails, the time is compensable.2U.S. Department of Labor. Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Overtime is where a lot of unpaid-wage claims live. After 40 hours in a workweek, non-exempt employees must be paid at least one and a half times their regular rate.3eCFR. 29 CFR Part 778 – Overtime Compensation The regular rate is not always your hourly wage; it’s your total weekly compensation (including certain bonuses and commissions) divided by hours worked. Minimum wage is $7.25 per hour under federal law, and if your state sets a higher rate you’re entitled to that instead.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 206 – Minimum Wage
If you’re a tipped employee, your employer can pay a direct cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour only if your tips actually bring your total to at least $7.25. When they don’t, the employer must make up the difference. If your employer kept any part of your tips or ran an invalid tip pool, you can recover the full tip credit taken plus an equal amount in liquidated damages.5U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 15 – Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Final paychecks deserve their own look. In many states, a fired employee must receive all earned wages immediately or within a very short window, including accrued vacation and vested commissions. When you resign, the deadline depends on your state and the notice you gave. Late final checks often trigger waiting time penalties calculated as your daily pay rate for each day the check is overdue, commonly capped at 30 calendar days. For someone earning $200 per day, a two-week delay can add $2,800 on top of the wages owed.
File a Complaint With the Wage and Hour Division
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigates unpaid wage claims at no cost. You can file online or by calling 1-866-487-9243. Have ready your employer’s name and address, a description of your work, your pay rate, and details about when the violations occurred.6Worker.gov. Filing a Complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division The nearest field office will contact you within two business days to decide whether an investigation is warranted.
If investigators confirm a violation, WHD works to recover the wages for you. Employers who disagree can request a hearing before an administrative law judge.7U.S. Department of Labor. About the Office of Administrative Law Judges If an employer refuses to comply with a final order, the agency can place liens on business assets or refer the case for legal action. Repeat or willful violators also face civil money penalties of up to $2,515 per violation.8U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments
This is often the right route if you can’t afford a lawyer or your claim is straightforward. It’s also useful when the same employer has shorted several coworkers, because investigators can look at the whole payroll rather than just your file.
Sue Your Employer in Court
You can also file a private lawsuit in federal or state court. A successful FLSA suit gets you the unpaid wages, an equal amount in liquidated damages, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties Some state wage payment laws go further and allow treble damages, three times the unpaid amount, in cases involving bad faith or willful nonpayment. The fee-shifting rule matters practically: many employment lawyers will take a strong wage case on contingency because the statute makes the employer pay their fees.
One limit worth knowing. You cannot bring a private lawsuit for the same wages if the Secretary of Labor has already filed suit on your behalf.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties Choose one lane and commit.
The Filing Deadline
Federal wage claims have a strict statute of limitations. You must file within two years of the violation, or three years if your employer’s conduct was willful.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 255 – Statute of Limitations State deadlines vary; some are longer, some shorter.
The clock runs from the date of each missed or shorted paycheck, not from the day you leave the job. That’s the trap. If you were underpaid for a year and then worked another two years at the correct rate before quitting, much of that original underpayment may already be out of reach by the time you get around to filing. Waiting too long is one of the most common reasons otherwise valid wage claims fail.
Build Your Evidence Now
Federal law requires employers to maintain detailed payroll records showing total additions to and deductions from wages for each pay period, along with the dates, amounts, and nature of each item.10eCFR. 29 CFR Part 516 – Records to Be Kept by Employers Those records are the main evidence in any dispute. If your employer can’t produce them, that cuts in your favor.
Federal law does not, however, require your employer to give you pay stubs, so keep your own log. Record start and stop times each day, your rate, any overtime, and your supervisor’s name. The Department of Labor offers a free smartphone app and a printable work hours calendar for this. Contemporaneous notes carry real weight when the employer’s records are missing or inconsistent, and they often make the difference between a resolved claim and a disputed one.
Gather what you already have too: offer letters, commission plans, texts or emails confirming schedules, screenshots of scheduling apps, and any pay stubs your employer did provide. Copies at home are safer than files on a work laptop you may lose access to.
Your Employer Cannot Retaliate
Filing a wage complaint would be pointless if your employer could fire you for doing it, which is why federal law explicitly prohibits retaliation. Under the FLSA, an employer cannot fire, demote, cut hours, or otherwise punish you for filing a complaint, cooperating with an investigation, or testifying in a wage proceeding.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 215 – Prohibited Acts The protection also reaches conduct before you file, so an employer who fires you because you’re about to testify or are gathering evidence is still breaking the law.
If retaliation happens, you can file a separate complaint with the Wage and Hour Division or sue directly. Remedies include reinstatement, back pay for lost wages, and liquidated damages equal to the lost wages.12U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 77A – Prohibiting Retaliation Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Many state laws layer additional retaliation protections on top of the federal baseline.
If You Were Classified as an Independent Contractor
Federal wage protections only apply if you’re an employee. Workers labeled independent contractors lose access to minimum wage guarantees, overtime pay, and the recovery mechanisms above. But the label does not settle the question. The Department of Labor uses an “economic reality” test that looks at how the work actually happens, not what a contract says. Two core factors drive the analysis: how much control the company has over when, where, and how you do the job, and whether you have a genuine opportunity for profit or loss through your own initiative or investment.13U.S. Department of Labor. Notice of Proposed Rule – Employee or Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act If those factors point toward employment, you may have been misclassified, and you can pursue the same unpaid-wage remedies as any other employee. Raise the classification issue when you file; investigators and courts expect it.