Wage theft can be perpetrated in a number of different ways, both by breaking the law and by not adhering to a contractual relationship in relation to wages and other employee benefits.
If your employer has failed to pay you the minimum wage or overtime, not paid you at all, has not given you any time to take meal breaks or if your meal breaks are only 20 minutes or less which your employer is required to pay for that time, you may be able to recover these unpaid wages from your employer.
The minimum wage in Texas is $7.25 per hour, which is the same as the federal minimum wage. Overtime is paid at time and a half for any time over 40 hours that you have worked unless you are employed in an exempt category.
You need to check if you fall into the exempt category before filing a claim for unpaid overtime.
The first step to take when you find you have wages missing on payday is to contact your employer through the business’s HR team. You should write a complaint describing precisely the wage theft.
If this works in your favor your employer may just give back what it owes. However, not all employers give in so easily and many know they have committed wage theft but they just hope the victim won’t take any action.
If your communication with your employer fails you can move onto the next step which is to file an unpaid wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). The TWC takes on responsibility for wage violations, including those related to the following
To begin your wage theft claim, you are required to fill in a wage claim form and mail or fax it to the TWC. The wage claim has to be filed within 180 days of the date the wage should have been paid.
Once the wage claim has been received an officer from the TWC will conduct an investigation of your wage theft claim. A decision will be made and if it favors you the TWC will make a move to help you get your wage theft claim paid by contacting your employer.
If you are having some difficulty completing the wage claim form you can ask an employment lawyer to guide you through the process.
If your wage theft comes to quite a considerable amount you may consider taking your wage theft claim to court. In Texas, employees who file minimum wage or overtime claims may be eligible to what is called “liquidated damages.”
This is in addition to your unpaid wages and is in place to compensate you for the hardship you have encountered due to your lack of wages. You may be able to recover 100% of your unpaid wages as liquidated damages.
So if your wage theft amounts to $2,000 you can recover the $2,000 plus an additional $2,000 making the recoverable amount $4,000.
In addition to this amount and if it was recovered in court you should get your court fees paid and your attorney’s fees. When in court under the Wage Theft Act your employer may be charged with a third-degree felony if it fails to make the full payment of the wage theft after receiving a demand for wages.
If you think you have been subject to wage theft by your employer and you have the evidence to prove it you should fill out a free evaluation form.