If you work in North Carolina, you are just like everyone else. You depend on your paycheck to take care of your living expenses. Labor laws are in place to ensure that you are treated fairly and to ensure that you are not taken advantage of.
Unfortunately, despite all the laws there are instances in which employers fail to pay employees properly. Wage theft affects millions of Americans every year. If you have suffered wage theft in North Carolina, you have resources available. You can pursue a claim to recoup your losses.
You should keep your employment contract and employee handbook. It is your responsibility to compare your paystub to your timecard every week.
Because there is a statute of limitations for pursuing a claim, you will want to catch any wage theft early so you can recover all your lost earnings. If you do not file your claim in time, you cannot recover all the compensation that you lost.
Maintaining evidence and documentation is essential to the success of a wage theft claim in North Carolina.
What You Need To Know Before You File A Wage Theft Claim?
There are state and federal laws that apply to employees and their earnings. North Carolina state law requires that an employer pay an employee one-and-a-half times their regular wage for overtime.
Overtime is any hours exceeding 40 worked during a workweek. In North Carolina, minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, which is the same as the federal minimum wage. You cannot be paid less than minimum wage for your work.
Sometimes wage theft results from employers failing to give employees their last paycheck. If your complaint involving North Carolina wage theft involves your last paycheck not being received, you must wait 10 days after your payday to file a wage complaint against your employer.
At that time, you will present your evidence and ask to be compensated for those last earnings that you were entitled to receive.
You should always keep your payroll records and duplicates of your timecards. Maintain files of any work-related correspondence. You should document any breaks and make note of any coworkers who worked with you because you may need them as witnesses to support your claim and to confirm that you worked that specific time in question.
You must have supporting evidence and documentation to back up your claim and to help show your losses. You are entitled to receive the money that you earned while you were on the job, so be sure to maintain records.
How To Report Wage Theft
If you have been the victim of wage theft in North Carolina, you should act promptly. Do not delay in contacting the North Carolina Department of Labor to get your claim filed. You have two years from the date of wage theft to get your claim underway.
If you wait longer than that, you cannot recover compensation for your damages. You should gather all the supporting evidence that you can to support your claim. This will include the employment contract, employee handbook, paystubs, timecards, and witness statements, memos, emails, and applicable texts.
The more evidence that you have that will support you claim, the more likely you will be to succeed. Often, employers have a pattern of such behavior and you are most likely not the only victim.
When you file your claim, you can be helping other workers from suffering the same actions. You should work diligently to recover your losses and to put an end to your employer’s wrongdoing and wage theft.
Fill Out A Free Evaluation Form
If your North Carolina employer has failed to pay you all your earnings, and if you are the victim of wage theft, you should speak with an employment law attorney who handles North Carolina wage theft claims. With the help of a lawyer, you are much more likely to prevail and recoup your losses.
When you speak with an attorney, discuss their payment because some lawyers require a payment in advance and others will take the case on a contingency basis and not be paid until you win your case.
If you think that you have been the victim of wage theft by your employer, you should fill out a free evaluation form to share the details of your situation with an employment law attorney who represents clients in your area. Remember time is of the essence, so complete the Free Case Evaluation Form on this page today.
