Walk It Through: The Short Paycheck
$6.15 or the federal rate, the last check by the next payday, and a magistrate up to $10,000.
A line cook's first paycheck works out to less than the minimum wage for the hours on the time sheet.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One paycheck and one cook. Overtime, tip pooling, and a complaint to the Commissioner of Labor are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Liquidated damagesAn amount equal to the unpaid wages that the court awards on top of them, unless the employer shows good faith and reasonable grounds.
- Small claimA civil action of up to $10,000, seeking mainly money, the return of property or summary ejectment, assigned to a magistrate.
- Summary ejectmentThe court procedure by which a landlord removes a tenant, available after a demand to surrender the premises, when the tenant holds over, breaks a lease term that ends the tenancy, or deserts the premises behind on rent.