Your Employer Owes You Unpaid Wages
Wage theft is illegal — and you can sue to get your money back
Wage theft happens when an employer fails to pay you every dollar you earned. It takes many forms: refusing to pay overtime after 40 hours (required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA §207, and New York Labor Law §160), misclassifying you as an independent contractor or exempt employee to avoid paying overtime, making you work before you clock in or after you clock out, skimming your tips, or simply not paying minimum wage. Any of these is illegal regardless of what your employer tells you.
Under NY Labor Law §191, your employer is required to pay you on a regular schedule in full — no deductions without written consent, no promises to pay later. If they do not, NY Labor Law §198 lets you recover up to double the unpaid wages as ‘liquidated damages,’ plus attorney fees. The FLSA under §216(b) offers the same liquidated damages at the federal level. You keep more of your recovery because we get paid only when you win.
The deadlines matter. Federal FLSA claims have a two-year statute of limitations (three years for willful violations). New York wage claims go back six years under NY Labor Law §198. Filing under New York law almost always covers more ground. Undocumented workers have the same wage rights under both federal and New York law — your immigration status does not affect your right to back pay.
What you need to know
Plain-English answers to the questions that come up most often on these cases.
Overtime Rules
Under the FLSA and NY Labor Law §160, you are owed 1.5 times your regular rate for every hour over 40 in a workweek. Employers cannot average hours across two weeks or pay straight time for overtime. Most workers — including many who are paid a salary — qualify for overtime.
Read moreMisclassification as Contractor
Calling you a 1099 contractor does not make you one. Courts use economic-reality tests to determine your true status. Many misclassified workers are owed years of unpaid overtime and benefits.
Read moreOff-the-Clock Work
If your employer requires you to arrive early, stay late, attend unpaid meetings, or complete work tasks after you clock out, that time must be paid. Rounding practices that consistently short-change workers are also illegal.
Read moreTip Theft
Under the FLSA and NY Labor Law §196-d, employers and managers cannot take tips that belong to tipped workers. Illegal tip pools — those that include managers or back-of-house supervisors — violate federal and state law.
Read moreLiquidated Damages
NY Labor Law §198 and FLSA §216(b) both allow courts to award double the unpaid wages as liquidated damages on top of the wages themselves. This doubles your recovery and punishes the employer for breaking the law.
Read moreSix-Year Lookback
New York wage claims can go back six years — longer than the federal FLSA window. We review your pay records, time records, and any written agreements to calculate the full amount your employer owes.
Read moreHow we handle these cases
Audit your pay and time records
We collect pay stubs, time records, schedules, and any communications about your hours. If your employer does not keep accurate records — which is their legal obligation under the FLSA and NY Labor Law §661 — the law allows us to estimate your damages using your own testimony.
Classify the violation
We identify exactly which laws were broken — FLSA §207, NY Labor Law §193, tip theft under §196-d, or minimum wage violations — and calculate total unpaid wages plus liquidated damages going back as far as six years.
File in federal or state court
Most wage cases are filed in federal court under the FLSA or in state court under the NYLL, whichever produces the larger recovery. We can also pursue collective actions that benefit your coworkers who faced the same violations.
Negotiate or litigate
Most wage theft cases settle before trial, but we prepare every case as if it will go to a jury. That preparation is what produces strong settlements. If an employer refuses a fair offer, we go to trial.
Recover attorney fees
Under both the FLSA and NY Labor Law §198, the employer pays your attorney fees if you win. That means your full back-pay and liquidated damages stay with you.
Real cases. Real results.
Three recent Workers’ Rights outcomes — case context and result. No client identifying information.
A group of tipped servers whose tips were shared with managers in violation of FLSA and NY Labor Law §196-d. We filed a collective action covering a three-year period. All participating workers recovered full stolen tips plus an equal amount as liquidated damages.
Construction workers required to assemble equipment and attend safety briefings before their official shift start time. Six-year NY Labor Law claim produced recovery for the entire crew including overtime premiums and liquidated damages.
Delivery driver classified as an independent contractor for four years despite working exclusively for one company with no ability to work elsewhere. Economic-reality test established employee status. Driver recovered four years of unpaid overtime plus liquidated damages.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is evaluated on its own facts. The case outcomes shown are representative examples; details have been altered or generalized to protect client confidentiality.
Related questions
Quick answers from our FAQ library.
Other ways we help
Same firm, same approach — different practice areas under one roof.
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Learn more →Social Security Disability
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Learn more →Long-Term Disability
Private LTD insurance denied or cut off. ERISA appeals.
Learn more →Personal Injury
Car accident. Construction site. Scaffold Law.
Learn more →Workers’ Rights lawyers near you
Seven New York offices serving working clients across the state.
The attorneys who work your case
Not a call centre. The lawyer who signs you is the lawyer who shows up.
Brian M. Mittman, Esq.
Managing Partner · Markhoff & Mittman, P.C.
Call 866-205-2415 Schedule with Brian- Admitted in New York
- 30+ years in practice
- Attends Board hearings personally
Brian has personally handled New York workers' compensation, SSDI, and personal-injury cases for over three decades. Your case is never handed off to a paralegal.
- Admitted in New York and New Jersey
- Pace University School of Law, J.D.
- Litigates before the Workers' Compensation Board
Randy has litigated every type of claim before the Workers' Compensation Board on behalf of hundreds of claimants.
- Admitted in New York, 2008
- New York Law School, J.D. 2007
- With The Disability Guys since 2013
Benai has spent more than a decade fighting for injured workers before the Workers' Compensation Board and the New York State Employees' Retirement Board.
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