Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington
Employer Doesn't Pay Regularly
My employer agreed to pay me in biweekly payments. They did not pay me as agreed. My pay was sporadic, sometimes occuring after a month or so. This caused multiple financial issues including overdrafts and even a missed loan payment. I made enough money at my job that I should have been fine off but it did not work out that way. I recently left my job because a paycheck that was owed for over a month did not go through at the bank. It turns out the routing numbers on the check were not printed correctly, this left the bank without an account to draw from. I quit because of this and they immediately printed two new checks, one was for the previous bad check and the other was for other back pay. Now it has been two weeks and one of those checks ahs not gone through again. I would like to sue, but how do I go about this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Employer Doesn't Pay Regularly
An employer is obligated by law to pay its employees. Failure to pay, or to pay with a bad check, is subject to a lawsuit in which the unpaid wages can be recovered along with reimbursement of attorneys fees. Once an employee quits or is terminated, failure to pay subjects the employer to liability for penalties up to 30 times the employee's daily rate of pay, plus attorneys fees. An employer may escape the penalties by showing a true "inability to pay." Consult a lawyer.