I recently terminated my employment with a company. When I went to pick up my paycheck (at the time and date specified on the employee handbook) the General Manager informed me that the check had "already been mailed". I have now waited several days for the check, and it has not come. I am in the process of filing a complaint with the WV DOL for wages owed, but I have a few questions:
1- what penalties are there, if any, for withholding these wages? If the check arrives, days late, will I be compensated for the overdue bills and late fees, or will the company be penalized in any way? this is not the first time the company has done this sort of thing, and I got the impression before that the general manager was just being vindictive by making it more inconvenient for workers to pick up their last checks.
2-Also, the reason I terminated my employment was that I did not like the atmosphere of harassment on the job, and I was made aware of other violations that the company was committing (such as intentionally miss-categorizing non-exempt employees as exempt and making employees take their "meal breaks" at the end of an 8 hour shift, thus really giving them a break at all). I decided to terminate my employment with them instead of making a fuss, but now that I have been further victimized by them, I feel differently. Is there any way for me to report these violations, or am I not eligible to complain because I no longer work there?


Thank you in advance for your responses,
D.

1. I'll let someone else tackle whether or not the check could be mailed but it was not due until the next regularly scheduled payday.

If they were not mailed, then there may be penalties assessed for each day late up to 30 days. It is not automatic however.


2. Meal breaks aren't required to be at any particular point during the shift. You can always report the exempt/non-exempt issue to the DOL. Were you misclassified or do you just think that others were?

I did return to pick up my check on the next payday- I was told that it was mailed early that morning. Since we are not allowed to pick up our checks until 3pm, that was the time I went to get it, on payday- the manager told me that he had mailed it to me that morning. I can't think of any other reason he would do this, aside from a)wanting to cause me grief or b)legitimately wanting to avoid a scene at the workplace if I showed up (I'm not sure why he would think I'd make a scene, but I'm willing to concede it is a possibility). I believe he simply wanted to cause me difficulty by withholding my check and thought it was a good excuse.

As far as the exempt/ non-exempt thing... well, I've reviewed the code, and I cannot see how someone with no administration or supervision duties, who works in a kitchen cooking all day could be exempt, Although, of course, I only have the person's word about her 400/week salary or if they'd ever been paid OT wages. I do know that the mngt. used certain salaried employees toward the end of the pay period b/c quote "they won't be in OT" even tho same employees were always there earlier than me, and I was at 40 hrs

Can it really be considered a break if it is the last 20 minutes of your shift? Isn't that the same as leaving 20 minutes "early?" generally at the very end of the night, after the restaurant was closed I would be offered a chance to sit down and eat- instead I just went home. How is it a break if you have to stay at work later to take it?

Anyway, I hope that clarifies things for everyone. I know WV isn't as strict w/ labor laws as say, CA, but I would hope that employers could not withhold wages on the regularly scheduled payday with the lame excuse, "The check is in the mail"

If you only half suspect from second hand knowledge that someone was paid inapparorpiately and that person isn't you, I wouldnt expect the DOL to jump all over it.

Yes the break can be at the end of the shift as your state doesn't specify when it must be.

In any event, it would be up to the DOL whether or not penalties were assigned for late pay. Your employer would not be responsible for bounced checks or late fees.