If you are owed wages or any type of compensation and get laughed at, threaten to report them to the CRA/IRS/the relevant tax authority in your country.
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
ie. if they're cheating their employers, it's extremely likely they're cheating on taxes.
It worked for me! They knew labour disputes are a long and arduous process and in the worst case scenario they'd have to pay me and recieve a small fine, so they laughed. When I said I could submit info to a tip line and have them audited… well… they had my cash ready the next day. I got shorted $4, but I was happy with the win.