{"id":1800,"date":"2018-07-09T15:40:35","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jacksonwhitelaw.com\/az-labor-employment-law\/?page_id=1800"},"modified":"2023-11-14T19:06:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T19:06:24","slug":"is-it-legal-for-an-employer-to-pay-you-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jacksonwhitelaw.com\/az-labor-employment-law\/blog\/is-it-legal-for-an-employer-to-pay-you-late\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it Legal for an Employer to Pay You Late?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Employers have a legal obligation to pay their employees fairly and on time. Most businesses are held to these standards by a combination federal and state employment laws, and there are regulatory agencies at both levels of government to enforce the applicable regulations.<\/p>\n
Employers who fail to pay their employees on scheduled pay dates may be subject to an investigation, fines, civil litigation, and court-ordered damages.<\/p>\n
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA<\/a>) was passed in 1938 to \u201cput a floor under wages and a ceiling over hours.\u201d It\u2019s the primary federal law regarding the minimum wage, overtime pay, employer recordkeeping requirements, and child labor restrictions. Currently, the law mandates a minimum wage of $7.25\/hour (as of 2009) and requires overtime pay of 1.5x wages for hours worked over 40 hours in a week for non-salaried employees.<\/p>\n While the FLSA doesn\u2019t stipulate the frequency of paychecks (that matter is left to state law), the courts have unanimously ruled that the law requires employees be paid in full and on time. The reasoning behind this is that an employee who isn\u2019t paid on time implicitly receives $0 an hour for their, which is obviously less than the minimum wage and therefore in violation of the FLSA. When a company schedules a regular payday, the business is required to abide by the scheduled payday.<\/p>\n Late paychecks are also problematic under the FLSA because they can jeopardize the overtime exemption for salaried employees. Since the salary basis test requires a regular, consistent salary, a late paycheck may mean that an otherwise exempt employee is eligible for overtime pay. Under the FLSA, a non-salaried employee must be paid time-and-a-half for overtime.<\/p>\n Although most wage complaint cases are handled at the state level, filing a federal complaint under the FLSA is still a viable option depending on your situation. You can choose to file a claim with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD<\/a>), or you can file a civil suit in federal court to seek damages from the employer.<\/p>\n If you choose to file a complaint with the WHD, the agency will review your claim, launch an investigation, and seek remediation from the employer on your behalf, usually equal to the amount of unpaid wages. If you choose to file a civil suit in federal court, you may be entitled to full back pay and liquidated damages equal to the amount of unpaid wages.<\/p>\n Under ARS 23-351<\/a>, Arizona law stipulates that an employer must have at least two paydays a month that are not more than 16 days apart. Furthermore, employers are prohibited from withholding wages<\/a> (that includes issuing a late paycheck) unless one of the following conditions apply:<\/p>\n When an employer willfully withholds an employee’s wages (again, that includes late paychecks), Arizona law provides two solutions\u2014the employee can file a wage complaint with the Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA), or he or she may file a civil action against the employer in state court.<\/p>\n To file a wage complaint with the ICA, the claim must be less than $5,000 and the unpaid wages cannot extend longer than one year. In contrast, there are no minimum or maximum requirements for wage claims in state court.<\/p>\n If you file a wage complaint with the ICA, the agency will review your claim, launch an investigation, and demand payment of unpaid wages on your behalf. When the commission issues an order for payment from the employer, the business has 10 days to comply. After 10 days, the employer will be required to pay three times the amount of unpaid wages.<\/p>\nState Paycheck Laws in Arizona<\/h2>\n
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