Legal Question in Employment Law in Alabama

Re: Unpaid salary

In a nutshell: Yes, you do have a legal leg to stand on. There are several violations of the law going on here. First and foremost is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Company must at least pay minimum wage, and failure to do so is pretty much an automatic violation of the Act. Furthermore, the owners are personally liable for such wages, not just the company. The only requirement is that the company be doing $500,000/year gross in business. If they do less than that they are pretty much immune. How much business did they do in 2003?

The real problem though is one of potential collection. It is unlikely that you will collect from the company itself as it is probably bankrupt. That leaves the owners. Are they independently wealthy? Or have they personally guaranteed the debts of the corporation and thus likely to be going bankrupt as well. When I did corporate bankruptcies, we often failed to bankrupt the company - there simply was no point in it - we merely filed bankruptcy for the owners as they had personally guaranteed virtually all of the debt.

However, on some occasions, the company or the owners do have enough to make it. Please call me at 205-458-1100 and I would be happy to discuss this case in more detail with you.

Sterling L. DeRamus

[email protected]