If you’re thinking about making a complaint with the DOL please read and learn from my experience with it.
Almost a year ago I made a claim for unpaid wages at a place I had just quit. I was hired for back of house but after a few weeks they started making me do front of house too. The entire time they paid me at a tip credit wage instead of the minimum wage even though I was only serving during weekend brunch. They also shorted my last paycheck when I quit. So I filed a wage claim to bring it up to minimum wage, a total of $1,300 they owed me.
The investigator assigned to my case only contacted me once to ask questions and again when I asked for an update so I didn’t really know what was going on with it.
Yesterday I got an email that she had recovered my wages…but only $600. I asked why it was so low and she said it was a compromise she had come to with the employer. He told her I was serving 5 days a week instead of 2, and since he hadn’t kept accurate time records there was no way for her to verify the truth. So she “negotiated” that he could take a tip credit for 2-3 hours a day PLUS the full days I actually did serve.
I told her we literally didn’t even do table service besides on the weekends. She said ok, if you can provide me some evidence of that then I’ll take it into consideration but otherwise you need to withdraw your claim and take it to small claims court. And to please get it to her soon because she wanted to be done with this case (!).
I asked her if she couldn’t just verify that with the other employees she interviewed and she said no because then she would “have to tell the employer that John said this and that. Do you want to ruin his career like that?”
I’m mad because first of all, the burden of proof is on the EMPLOYER. He is the one that has to prove I was serving more than twice a week because it’s his duty to keep accurate time records. I shouldn’t be digging through the web to find proof just so the DOL will hear me out. Second, I’ve been waiting 10 months for a resolution and now she wants me to rush? When I still might have to take it to small claims and start all over? Meanwhile she’s getting paid to do this and the employer is on a 2 week vacation in France?? And third, you can’t verify this with a coworker because it’ll get him fired for helping your investigation? Did you forget that that’s called retaliation and you are literally the organization that deals with that?
So my lesson to everyone. COVER. YOUR. ASS. Screenshot their website, get your time records, know what they’re doing wrong before you file that claim. The investigator never verified things with me until yesterday so assume you only have one chance to say your piece. Don’t assume your coworkers will speak up for you. It’s frustrating but you’ll be making things easier on yourself later on.