QUESTION
How can an "undocumented" worker recover unpaid wages?
Asked on Sep 09th, 2011 on Labor and Employment - Oregon
More details to this question:
This is the scenario: An undocumented worker who works in the state of Washington but lives in Oregon has not been paid his salary (5k+ for almost 3 months of work). The worker resigned due to lack of payment, but employer signed a promissory note stating he would pay by a certain date, but employer didn''t pay after the date stated. The worker has contacted the employer several times and has tried to collect, but employer always comes up with an excuse. (There is proof of that, text messages, invoices, emails, recorded calls) What can the worker do? should he go to the Washington state department of labor and file a complain, or should he go to an oregon or washington small claims court?? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
1 ANSWER
Labor and Employment Attorney serving Atlanta, GA
2 Awards
First you can sue on the promissory note assuming that it has been drafted competently, with all of the required provisions under Washing ton law, regardless of whether you are documented or not. You also can usually assign the note by selling it to someone else who then can sue the employer as an assignee or successor in interest.
Second, federal law requires that you be paid the minimum wage and overtime regardless of whether you are documented or undocumented. You can sue the employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act and recover regardless of your immigration status. My firm does this all the time in Georgia, and I am sure there are firms in the State of Washington that do too. You can recover the unpaid wages, plus the same amount as liquidated damages, plus your attorneys fees from the employer if you can prove that you worked the hours and he refused to pay you.
Answered on Sep 19th, 2011 at 6:25 PM