Employment law
Unpaid wages
Tell us what happened and where. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing on this page predicts what any case is worth.
What matters most in an unpaid wages claim?
What happened, what was written down at the time, and whether anyone was told. Dates matter. So do emails, messages, handbooks, pay records and the names of people who saw it. Whether you reported it, who to, and what happened next often weighs as heavily as the conduct itself. Employment claims can also be time-sensitive, and the limits are not the same everywhere, which is a reason to have the dates looked at early rather than later.
Capture the scene and your recovery
Keep your pay stubs, your contract or offer letter, and any record of the hours you actually worked. Note who told you what you would be paid, and when, and keep the messages where it was discussed.
Record what you know without guessing at fault. If you are unsure about something, write down that you are unsure — that is more useful later than a confident guess, and nobody expects you to have a complete account.
What tends to decide cases like this
Write down the hours you worked and what you were actually paid, week by week, before the details fade — your own contemporaneous note is evidence. Keep pay stubs, rosters, clock-in records and any message about overtime, breaks or deductions. Employment law and workers' compensation are separate processes with separate deadlines, so say clearly which one your concern is about.
What can affect a claim like this
The evidence, the law that applies where it happened, the deadlines that apply to that kind of claim, and the circumstances all matter. Someone else’s result does not determine yours, and no figure on this site is a prediction for any case.
An attorney looks at how serious the injury is and how clearly it is documented, what care has been needed, whether the effects are expected to last, what income has been lost, who was responsible and what evidence shows it. Where responsibility is shared, how that is treated differs from state to state.
How to start
Choose unpaid wages in the form, add the state and city where it happened, and tell us how to reach you. It takes about a minute, nothing is sent until you press send, and you can stop at any point. Find A Tough Lawyer is a legal media and lead-generation service, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice.
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Can these settlements predict my result?
No. Any figure below is one case, reported by the source named beneath it. They are other people’s cases — not our results, not typical, and not a prediction for anyone else. What a particular claim is worth depends on the evidence, responsibility, treatment, losses, future needs, insurance and the law of that state.
We hold no published settlement for this kind of case yet. When one exists, it appears here with its source, its date and what it does and does not show. See the cases we do hold
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