West Virginia employees want to believe that when they start their jobs, their bosses are in their corner, and they’re getting paid a fair wage. If you’ve recently found out that you haven’t been paid fairly for your time, you may be wondering what your options are.
Thankfully, the United States Government and the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, make it relatively easy for someone to file a wage and overtime claim and get paid what he or she is owed. The process of filing a claim is relatively painless, but it does differ based on what sort of claim you’re filing.
What sort of wage claims does the FLSA cover?
Generally, the FLSA covers several types of wage claims, including minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor, recordkeeping and miscellaneous provisions. If your claim involves any one of these categories, then you can go ahead and file a claim to get paid the proper amount. Some examples include:
- Minimum wage. If you think that your employer is not meeting the federal or state minimum wage with what they’re paying you, you may have a claim.
- Overtime. A claim can be filed if you haven’t been paid the proper amount for overtime worked.
- Recordkeeping. If your employer hasn’t kept a strict record of hours worked or isn’t providing paystubs, that may merit a claim.
Other categories relating to child labor and miscellaneous provisions are rarer, but they still happen. Under child labor laws, children can only work a certain number of hours, which is the same with nursing mothers or specially designated employees.
How do you file a claim?
There’s a process for filing an FLSA complaint. It must be filed with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
After the Department receives the complaint, it may request more information and launch an investigation against your workplace. Usually, this takes time to process and requires you to provide evidence of misconduct.
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division does allow you to file anonymously and doesn’t require you to go to trial. But it can be useful to get help from a lawyer when filing a claim.