Is my employer responsible for my late fees if they didn’t pay me what they owed me?
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Is my employer responsible for my late fees if they didn’t pay me what they owed me?
I recently noticed on my pay stubs that my hourly wage was short and I was supposed to
be making more for the work I was doing. I brought the issue to the attention of my district
manager and she said she would handle it it’s been 2 months and I finally received my back pay but I owe a lot of late fees that I wouldn’t need to pay if I had just been paid what I was supposed to in the first place is my employer responsible?
Asked on October 19, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Nevada
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
Technically, yes--if it was their mistake which resulted in you being short-paid, and the short-pay reasonably and logically resulted in late charges, etc., you could seek the money from them. But if they won't pay this voluntarily, you'd have to sue for the money, which itself takes time, costs money (at least the filing fees, even if you act as your own attorney, or "pro se"), and will clearly affect your relationship with your employer. And you would not be guaranteed to win: while you state a reasonable case for reimbursement, a judge could potentially conclude that it is not the employer's fault that you have failed to keep a reserve or savings and so live so paycheck-to-paycheck; that is, the court would find that it is your resonsibility, not the employer's, if some short payment causes you to pay your bills late--this would be a possible outcome of a suit. So even though you state a reasonable case, do not assume you would automatically win.
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