When the last paycheck comes up short
You worked the hours. The number on the check does not match. Sometimes it is a payroll slip, and sometimes it is how the hours were counted. Either way the money is yours to ask for.
Start with your own count
A phone photo of each week’s schedule, a notebook, texts from a manager with a time in them: any of it will do. I rebuild the weeks from what you have and compare them with the stubs.
Final pay has its own clock
Rules on when final pay is due, and what the company owes if it is late, differ by place and by kind of pay. Ask for the rules early; they run from the last day.
Where the shortfall hides
What I look for
Overtime
Hours past forty, or past a daily limit, paid at the regular rate or not at all.
Off-the-clock work
Opening, closing, a call after the shift, or a meeting nobody logged.
Commissions and bonuses
Earned, promised in writing, then reduced, delayed or dropped at the end.
Deductions and tips
Amounts taken from pay, or tips kept or shared with those who should not share.
Count it with me
Bring the weeks you remember
A rough count is a fine start. Tell me when you started, what you were told you would earn, and how the hours ran in a normal week and in the worst one.
I will add up what the stubs show, what your own record shows and what the difference could be. Some claims are small enough that a letter settles them. Others are not, and I will say which kind yours looks like.
Your schedules, texts and any notebook
Every stub, or the bank record of deposits
What you were told you would earn
What people ask about pay
Can I be paid late and still be owed more?
Often yes. When final pay is late, rules in some places add a penalty on top. Ask about that early, because the clock runs from the last day.
My employer calls me exempt. Does that settle it?
No. What the job really involves matters more than what it is called. I can read the duties and tell you whether the label fits.
Is it worth it for a small amount?
Sometimes a letter is enough, and I will say so. I would rather tell you that than start a case that costs more than it returns.
Ready to count the hours?
Send me when you started and what the check should have been. I will tell you where to look.