When an employee in a Missouri company works more than 40 hours in a workweek, and he or she is not overtime exempt, it is natural to expect the paycheck to reflect the time-and-a-half pay for each hour of overtime. If the paycheck is much less than expected based on the minimum rate, the employee may want to explore the reasons for it. An employer that refuses to correct the issue may believe that the employee will have little recourse. However, federal and state laws protect employees from being taken advantage of in this way. According to the Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations, the employee may call or email the Division of Labor Standards and fill out a complaint form in order to request an investigation.
The state agency is likely to uncover any pay discrepancy, and it will make an attempt to collect the wages that are owed to the employee. There is no Missouri law regarding wage collection, though. Instead, that is left up to the court system, and it is the employee’s right to file a lawsuit against the employer to recover damages. The employee has two years from the time the deficiency is discovered to file an action. The judge or jury may determine that the employer should pay the employee an amount in addition to the back wages. For example, the court may order the company to pay for the employee’s attorney and court fees, as well as liquidated damages, minus the amount the employee was already paid.
Source: New feed
