What is Wage Theft?

• Not paid for all hours worked (including on the job training).
• Your paycheck bounced due to “not sufficient funds” (NSF).
• You did not receive all your tips.
• Your employer makes you work through your unpaid meal period and doesn't pay you for that time.
• Your rate of pay was lowered without prior notice.
• Your employer paid you less than the current minimum wage or applicable prevailing wage.
• Your employer did not pay an overtime rate for hours worked over 40 hours in one week. (Most employees must be paid time and one-half their rate of pay for more than 40 hours worked, but there are some exceptions.)

Farm Workers Only

• If you worked more than 56 hours in a week, or you are required to work on your day of rest, you are owed overtime pay. A farm laborer must receive one 24 consecutive hours of rest once per calendar week. Services and Protections for Farm Laborers (P737)
   

NYS DOL Empowers Workers. Know the Signs of Wage Theft.

• The employer doesn’t pay you directly but pays you through another person.
• The employer says they will pay you after you are trained.
• The employer doesn’t have a business office, business cards, or advertise their business name to the public.
• The employer asks you to buy materials with your own money and says they will reimburse you.
• You’re an hourly worker who completes overtime hours but doesn’t get overtime pay.
• You leave a job, but your employer doesn’t pay your final paycheck.
• The employer offers you a job but you do not fully understand how the business operates, or your work duties and pay.
• The employer wants you to accept “net wages” instead of full minimum wage with details on legal deductions.
• The employer wants you to wait to cash your check.
• The employer misclassifies your work status and claims that you are a 1099 employee.
• The employer argues that you make enough in tips that you do not need to worry about the minimum wage.
• The employer allows you to underreport your tips earned.
• The employer discourages you from taking sick/safe leave or other benefits offered as part of your compensation package.
• The employer interrupts your meal period or routinely asks you to work while you eat your lunch.
• Your paycheck is repeatedly incorrect, even after you’ve asked about it.

Your employer promised you (verbally or in writing), but did not provide earned:

• Vacation Pay.
• Holiday Pay.
• Discretionary Bonuses.

If your employer never promised to pay wage supplements, your employer is not required by law to pay them.