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Education for Justice |
FACT SHEET E-1 |
Fall
2011 |
WAGE CLAIMS
If you left or lost your job and were not paid all of your
wages, you can make a “wage claim” against your employer. You can get all the money that you earned
before you stopped work, even if you left on bad terms. You may be able to get more money as a
penalty if your employer did not follow the law about paying your wages after
you stopped work.
How Soon Must They
Pay Me?
·
If you were fired
or laid-off,
·
If you quit
or resigned, you must be paid on or by the next regular payday unless it is
less than 5 days away. Then they can
wait until the second payday. You must be paid within 20 days of your last
day.
The money must be paid at the place you usually got your
checks, unless you ask them to mail your last check.
There are some exceptions:
-
If you are a migrant worker, you must be paid within 5
days if you quit. If you are fired or
laid-off, the rules are the same as above- they have to pay you within 24 hours
of asking for it.
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If you are in a union with a collective bargaining
agreement, there may be different rules.
-
If your employer files for bankruptcy before you are
paid, you can file your claim in bankruptcy court. There are 4 bankruptcy courts in Minnesota
and you can put your name on the list of people needing to be paid. That court usually puts wage claims before
most other claims. This means you may still
get paid even if it seems that the employer doesn’t have any money. Be sure to make your wage claim!
-
If you handled money or property at your job, the
employer can take 10 days after your last work day to check your accounts
before you are paid.
Generally, employers cannot
take money out of your paycheck for work property that is lost, stolen or
damaged. They can if you agree to it in writing after the loss or damage happened, or if a court decides you are to
blame.
How Do I Make A Wage
Claim?
Ask for your unpaid wages as soon as possible after you
leave your job. This is called making a
demand for wages. Your demand must be in
writing. There is a sample wage demand
letter at the end of this fact sheet. Sign
and date your letter. Keep a copy. Ask the employer to pay you all of your
unpaid wages and commissions right away.
What If They Do Not
Pay Me On Time?
You are considered paid as of the date they hand you the
check or as of the postmark date on the envelope, if they mailed your last
check.
·
If your wages were not paid within 24 hours after they are demanded (see above - How Soon Must
They Pay Me?), state law lets you collect a penalty from your employer. To figure the amount of the penalty, first
find out your average daily earnings. To
do this, divide your pay by the number of work days in the pay period. Then count how many days the employer was
late with your money (up to 15 days).
Multiply those two numbers for the total penalty.
Here is one example of how the penalty might be figured out:
Toni was fired from her job on June 10th. She worked 5 days per week and was paid every
2 weeks. Her usual paycheck was
$875.00. She made her demand for wages
on June 12th. Her employer
mailed the check on June 20th.
You need to know Toni’s average daily pay. First you need to figure out how many days are
in Toni’s pay period.
5 work days x 2 weeks in the pay period = 10
days per pay period
Next, you figure out Toni’s average daily pay by dividing
her paycheck amount by the number of days in her pay period:
$875.00 ÷
10 = $87.50. So Toni’s average daily pay
is $87.50.
Then figure out how many days it took her employer to pay
her.
June 20 (pay date) – June 12 (demand date) = 8 days
The penalty is:
$87.10
(average daily pay) x 8 (number of days late) = $700.00
·
Most employers do pay wages and commissions on
time. If yours does not, you may need to
sue them. If the wages plus the penalty
totals $7,500.00 or less, you can sue in
·
If the employer makes you a formal offer of
judgment, think twice before you sue. If
you go to court and the court decides the employer only has to pay you what you
were offered or less, you may have to pay the employer’s legal costs. But, if they decide you should get more than
your employer offered, the employer may have to pay your legal costs.
How Soon Must I Sue?
You must sue within 2
years of the day you did not get your pay.
This might be your last day of work, or it might be before, if you did
not get paid for awhile before you stopped
working. The statute of limitations to
sue is 2 years from the date each check was supposed to be paid to you. Start your lawsuit as soon as possible to
avoid losing evidence or witnesses.
For more information on
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Aid Society materials, including any fact sheets mentioned in this
document, go to www.lawhelpmn.org/LASMfactsheets.
Here is an example of a wage demand letter.
It is important that you keep a copy of the signed letter. You should also make note of the date you send
the letter. It is a good idea to send it by certified mail or ask at the
post office about confirmation of delivery.
That way you have proof it was sent, where it was sent and on what
day.
Date: __________________
(Write your employer's name and address)
Re: Wage Demand, Request for
Employment File and Reason for Termination
Dear (Employer’s name):
Please send me a copy of my
complete employment file as well as the reason for
my termination. Additionally, I am
requesting all outstanding wages due and owing pursuant to
Please send the requested
information and wages to me at the following address:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
(clearly print your name and address)
Sincerely,
_____________________________________________
(Your signature)