Some people will tell you that they work because it gives them a social outlet, while others do it because they feel that their job enables them to make a positive difference in the world; you will often hear this line of thinking from teachers and from the employees of nonprofit organizations. Some people will tell you that work gives them something to do and gets them out of the house; proponents of this view tend to be seniors who fear that they will be socially isolated in retirement, or else former stay-at-home moms who discovered, once their youngest child started kindergarten, that staying home all day with their mother-in-law is not their idea of a good time.
In certain professions, you can tell yourself that you are working because your profession is prestigious, and your job gives you and your family something to brag about and to lord over your detractors and rivals. Mostly, though, money is your main motivation for work. You would probably still work even if your friendliest co-worker moved away, your mother-in-law moved out of your house, or people were not impressed with your work-related boasts.
Bragging rights, the flow state, and a sense of purpose will not buy you a Burrito Supreme on a Friday night, but a paycheck will. Therefore, employers have no obligation to make your job Instagrammable or emotionally fulfilling, but they do have a legal obligation to pay you for the time you worked and the work you completed. The Bozeman failure to pay wages lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help you exercise your right to fair and timely pay for the work you have done.
How Much Does Your Employer Have to Pay You, and How Do You Prove It?
Jobs come in many different forms, with a variety of payment structures, but the principle is the same, namely that if you work, your employer must pay you for it. Employees who get paid hourly sometimes record their hours in their own records and then submit a timesheet at the end of the pay period. In other jobs, the company’s computer system automatically records the employees’ work hours and submits and processes the time sheets based on when the employees clock in and out.
In either case, your employer must pay you your hourly wage times the number of hours you worked. If you are eligible for overtime pay, as most workers who get paid by the hour are, then your employer must pay you 1.5 times your base rate for each hour beginning with the 41st that you worked in a week where you worked more than 40 hours. Most workers who do get paid hourly do not have employment contracts, but your pay stub will indicate your hourly rate, even if there is no other written proof of it. If your employer issues you a raise and only tells you about it verbally, ask for a confirmation in writing, even if it is only by email, of your new rate of pay.
The clearest proof of how much your employer is obligated to pay you is an employment contract, if you are lucky enough to have one. The more detail your employment contract includes about the compensation your employer must pay you, the better. It should say how much you get paid, how frequently your employer pays you installments of your salary, the basis on which your employer calculates bonuses, if any, and which expenses your employer will reimburse, and how you should request reimbursement for these expenses. If your employer fails to honor any of these payment obligations, your employment contract is proof of this.
Your Employer Still Has to Pay You, Even if You Got Fired
Many disputes over unpaid wages arise from the termination of the worker’s employment. As long as the employee was working for the employer, the employer paid every paycheck on time. Employers are still required to pay employees for the final pay period in which the employee worked. Withholding an employee’s final paycheck is wage theft, no matter how bad the terms on which the employment relationship ended. If you worked for just one shift in your last pay period, and during that shift, you made such a major error that your employer fired you on the spot, your employer must still pay you for the hours you worked. This applies not only when an employee gets fired for obvious misconduct but also when an employee quits the job with or without giving notice ahead of time.
Minimum Wage Laws in Montana
Some disputes over pay relate not to how many hours the employee worked but to how much the employer must pay the employee per hour. The minimum wage in Montana is $10.55 per hour, but there are many exceptions to this minimum wage. For example, very small businesses may pay the employees less than the state minimum wage if the business is not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. If you earn tips every shift, then your employer can pay you a reduced wage, as long as your base pay plus your tips add up to at least $10.55 per hour for the shift.
Resolving Disputes With Your Employer Over Failure to Pay Wages
Even though laws about fair pay are meant to be straightforward, there is sometimes room for disagreement. For example, there can be misunderstandings about which employees in a restaurant are included in the tip pool and which ones get their entire wage paid by the employer. Since seasonal workers and managerial employees are exempt from overtime pay, there can also be disputes about which jobs count as seasonal and which employees count as managers.
Contact HKM Employment Attorneys LLP About Pay Disputes
The Bozeman employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can counsel you about disputes with your employer over payment of your wages. Contact HKM Employment Attorneys LLP in Bozeman, Montana, to set up a consultation.
