I feel like there are a lot of questions asked here that can easily just be directed to the department of labor. Here is my success story.
I was a 1099 sales rep and the company was with holding my last check because “I was leaving them”. I really NEEDED that money. I was at my wits end. Then I learned about the DOL. It felt like the “doctors hate this one trick” meme.
I learned that if you report your employer for this kind of theft of fraud the DOL will audit them and make them crack all their books open. In my particular case this would have caught any other sales rep they did this to. The DOL then makes them pay for any wrong doing AND they charge the employer for the actual audit.
As soon as I told my boss I expect to be paid or I’m calling the DOL on them my check was magically processed over night.
Moral of the story. Use the tools available to you. Check out the dol.gov for more info