Labor Law Violations

Labor Law Violations Need Labor Law Lawyers.

At Consumer Justice Law Firm, we help you recover from the harmful consequences of labor law violations by upholding and protecting workers’ rights under the law.

We do everything the law allows to hold your employer accountable for the mistreatment and exploitation of employees when it comes to wages, overtime, tips, leave, breaks, safety, and more.

GET JUSTICE for Labor Law Violations!

We make your employer

1. Stop abusing and exploiting you financially
2. Pay you money for any harm they cause
3. Pay your legal bills (you pay $0 out of pocket)

The 10 Most Common Types of Labor Law Violations

Labor Law Violations are illegal workplace situations in which someone with decision-making authority (usually an owner) or supervisory authority (usually a manager or supervisor) violates employee rights when it comes to wages, overtime, breaks, leave, safety, and more.

1. Unpaid Wages and Wage Theft– you aren’t paid at your agreed hourly rate or aren’t paid at all for shifts or hours worked. This can also include unpaid bonuses and other compensation.
2. Unpaid Overtime Hours– you aren’t paid for overtime hours worked or your overtime hours aren’t paid at overtime rates
3. Minimum Wage Violations– your regular hours worked aren’t paid at the required minimum wage
4. Tip Theft and Unpaid Tips– tips are inappropriately kept, stolen, shared, used, or incorrectly credited toward minimum wage obligations
5. Unpaid Off-the-Clock Time– you’re asked to work or perform tasks during unpaid breaks or days off, or before or after work hours, or to attend unpaid trainings and meetings
6. Misclassification of Employees– you’re misclassified as salaried or exempt to avoid paying you overtime
7. Illegal Paycheck Deductions– your regular pay or overtime pay is illegally docked
8. Unsafe Conditions– you’re put at risk by an employer ignoring health and safety standards
9. Unjust Break or Leave Refusals– you’re denied lunch breaks, rest breaks, or leave under FMLA
10. Retaliation- you’re subjected to additional mistreatment for speaking up about violations or attempting to enforce your rights

Check out the Consumer Justice Blog for information about how everyday people in jobs just like yours are impacted by labor law violations.

How Labor Law Violations Harm You

When an employer exploits you, steals from you, or cheats you, it can have huge consequences in your life.

• Financial Loss or Hardship. It doesn’t matter how hard you work or how many hours you work if you’re not getting paid what you earned. Debts and unpaid bills can pile up, and even basic necessities can be out of reach.
• Mental and Emotional Distress. When you’re subject to exploitation and wage abuse, your mental wellbeing plummets. This can show up as anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, physical ailments, family stress, and more.
• Job Loss. At any phase of your career, unjust firing decisions can completely derail you, especially when you suspect the decision was retaliatory or done to avoid paying wages, overtime, and tips that were rightfully owed or because you asked for a legally protected leave.
• False promotions. If your employer pretends that you’ve been promoted to a salaried position but it’s actually the same position you had as an hourly employee or is equivalent to other hourly positions, you’re likely being exploited to work more hours without getting overtime pay you deserve.
• Employer Retaliation or Targeting. When you stand up for yourself and insist on fair pay, safety, breaks, and leave, it can make mistreatment worse.
• Workplace Isolation. Whether it’s planned or simply the result of ongoing mistreatment, many workers subject to labor violations experience isolation from colleagues, clients, choice assignments, and more.

3 Steps To Take if You Suspect You’re Being Exploited at Work

STEP 1  Document everything

From the first moment you realize that something isn’t right, start taking detailed notes, including printing or saving any emails, pay statements, texts, and other documents. Include dates, names, summaries, quotes, witnesses, steps taken or promised, threats, etc.  If an employer wants you to sign anything after you’ve stood up or filed a complaint, talk to a lawyer first.

STEP 2  Talk to a lawyer

The law protects your right to a safe and fair workplace free from wage exploitation and mistreatment. The law won’t stop employers from misbehaving in big and brutal ways, but a labor law violations lawyer will enforce your rights, guide you through the legal process, and fight to get you money.

STEP 3  Enforce your rights

If your employer is playing games with your pay, your time, your safety, or anything else, never accept their nonsense, stories, or threats. They may not do the right thing when no one’s watching, but a lawsuit usually gets the job done.

How a Labor Law Violations Lawyer Helps

Being paid fairly and legally for what you’ve rightfully earned shouldn’t be a convoluted and complicated process, but it frequently is. Whether it’s retail, food and restaurant services, hospitality, healthcare, education, business services, delivery services, ride share services, and more, workers in hourly jobs play an enormous role in keeping our economy and our lives moving smoothly.

The lawyers at Consumer Justice Law Firm make sure hard working people are protected, treated fairly, and paid every single dollar that they’re owed.

7 Key Things A Labor Law Violation Lawyer knows

1. We know the law. Labor law can be complex, involving federal, state, and local rights about every aspect of your position, including minimum wage, overtime pay, health and safety, breaks and leaves, and more.
2. We know the problems. We’ve seen, heard, and handled every type of exploitative and thieving employer practice and policy, and put our full knowledge and resources into everything we do.
3. We know the tricks. We know the tactics used by employers to delay or avoid their legal obligations. They’d rather threaten, punish, or ignore you. We know how to get their attention.
4. We know how to navigate the process. We help you identify and gather evidence, documents, witnesses, and more, and advise you on your rights and best practices along the way.
5. We know the right state and federal agencies. When you need to file formal complaints, we guide you through the process.
6. We know how to file a lawsuit. We know when it’s time to file a labor law violations lawsuit to hold bad employers accountable.
7. We know how to get you money. If you’ve been harmed by labor law violations and you’re entitled to compensation, we know how to maximize it.

Pro Tip! Work with a lawyer dedicated to labor law violations (employment law) for the best shot at a successful outcome. General attorneys know how to research labor law violations, but the knowledge that comes from fighting these violations every day can’t be replaced by research.

What is the Fair Labor Standards Act?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that falls under the U.S. Department of Labor. It gives employees certain rights and places certain obligations on employers, all in the name of helping to create and maintain fair wage practices and employee treatment.

The FLSA specifically deals with things like minimum wage, overtime, tips, regulation of hours worked, recordkeeping, child labor restrictions, leave and break requirements and more.

How Fee-Shifting Works

One of the most important and least known facts about fighting back against workplace wage theft and exploitation is that you don’t have to pay out of pocket for legal help.

Fee-shifting allows an lawyer to fight labor law violations on behalf of a client without the client paying anything upfront. Once the case is won through a trial or settlement, the attorney expenses and fees are paid by the employer as part of the ordered or negotiated amount.

At Consumer Justice Law Firm, we applaud fee-shifting as an equalizer, bringing justice to everyone, including those who otherwise couldn’t afford to work with an attorney. We value each and every client and every case, and appreciate that the law has carved out a way to center equity and fairness in legal representation for anyone and everyone harmed by a dubious or dangerous employer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does labor law protect my tips as well?

Yes. If you work for tips, there are laws regarding how your employer can handle, share, and disperse tips. Of course, if you work for tips, you also know that there are numerous ways that employers try to skim, scam, and avoid paying fair tips, so stay alert.

Laws around tips are  determined by the Fair Labor Standards Act and state-specific laws. But in general, your employer is not usually allowed to do things like (1) keep a percentage of the tips for themselves (except possibly for charge fees on credit card tips), (2) split pooled tips with staff not typically tipped in the course of their job (like kitchen staff), (3) fail to pay you an amount in addition to your tips so that you are earning an amount at least equivalent to the applicable minimum wage, or (4) fail to pay you overtime based on a the full minimum wage (not your base wage before tips).

Which job has the most wage and hour violations?

Wage and hour violations can show up in any position that is not salaried. So whether you’re working in a high incidence industry  or not, you’re vulnerable and need to be aware of your rights.

However, statistically speaking, the industries with the greatest number of wage and hour or overtime violations in a given year are food service, retail, home care, custodial services, and construction. If you’re within one of these specific industries, it’s healthy to be aware of the fact that it is especially susceptible to this kind of wage exploitation.

Can a labor law violations lawyer help with severance negotiation?

Yes! We help clients with this all the time. Negotiating for severance can be a tricky topic, no matter what circumstances you’re leaving under. But this is especially true if you’re leaving under strained or adversarial circumstances.

We’re able to help by reviewing the full context of your departure, analyzing the severance terms proposed, looking at the industry-wide standards, and considering your professional achievements, years of employment, and perceived performance throughout.