[I'm personally located in northern Colorado, USA]
Good morning and happy Thanksgiving/Fall Harvest to all those who are celebrating! I was wondering if any of y'all knew of a decent employment lawyers that don't cost an arm and a leg just to even see them for a consultation.
Little bit (okay big bit) of context:
Several months ago I left a job where I felt I was treated unfairly and underpaid over the course of my time there, as well as the company just being a mess. At this current moment I don't think I'm going to name the company, but maybe y'all can convince me otherwise if y'all want it.
But to sum it up, (and a lot of this is just general, why I don't like the company) the company is extremely disorganized (to the point where many customers wait months if not years to have issues fixed, things are forgotten or lost and then the customer lied to, etc.) rips off their customers (think of a sleezy mechanic telling a customer they need to replace a whole unit when really it's just a single bolt that could be replaced), disregard their employees (we were forced to work in a building that had been condemned by the city…. Closed to the public and a big ol sign saying unfit for human occupancy – and a whole staff working away inside not allowed to go home). CONSTANT personal cell phone usage being required to call customers, handle payments, in company communication, with no compensation until you woked there for over a year (though admittedly I don't know the legalities of this) This company has engaged in lawsuits with customers to result in removing bad reviews off Google, as well as responds and accuses customers who have negative feedback of not even being customers at all, and ofc, the big one which makes me want a lawyer, did not calculate overtime pay correctly.
Alright, so, the overtime issues: For those who don't know, in the US, overtime is to be calculated as hours worked over 40/week or hours worked over 12 in any individual day/shift – whichever results in the highest wage calculation for the employee. With a week defined as a consecutive 168 hours beginning and ending on the same day and time.
In my position, I routinely would work 10-15 hour days, so I got into overtime calculations often. Instead of the calculations above, my employer was performing a much simpler operation of “hours above 80 in the 2 week pay period = overtime” and that's it. What this results in are for one, calculations involving days working over 12 hours weren't even considered, and also, if I worked under 40 one week, but over 40 the next week, my hours would essentially be shuffled around to result in less pay and potentially no overtime. Where as working 45 hours one week, and 35 hours the next week should result in 75 hours normal pay and 5 hours overtime, I was receiving 80 hours of regular pay.
After MANY other issues and just not feeling respected, safe, or even very good about myself, I decided to quit as well as submit a formal request for lost wages as well as evidence of this issue (time cards and pay stubs). In response to this I was told I was paid correctly and got my overtime when I worked it, and then I was threatened with fraud by the owner of the company (claiming I had been claiming bonuses for work I never did) which is absolutely untrue.
It's now been a good while, and as expected, nothing ever came of his threats, and I feel it was more a move to try and get me not to press anything (I see this company has been hit with wage theft fines from the state before now having done some research). Additionally, I noticed that on my final paycheck, the overtime calculations had mysteriously been fixed, and were now correct (though I was still owed lost wages from all my previous checks) so it's clear to me that they read my msg and realized it was an issue, but then they just quietly fixed it in the background while presumably not telling anyone and just hoping they don't notice. Super scummy.
So yeah, TL;DR I need an employment lawyer to try and fight for my lost wages, and wouldn't mind getting the company some fines as well as they just really need to clean up their shit, for both the customers and the employees. I understand I can file a claim for unpaid wages with the state, though due to the active aggression towards me I feel from the company, I would really like to come at them with a lawyer through a lawsuit. Any help or suggestions would be amazing, thank you!
Thanksgiving side note: I am now in a much better job, and while I make a bit less, the work is meaningful, the people are awesome both customers and co-workers, and I'm made to feel like the company truly cares about me and my well-being. And ofc, they strictly follow and exceed minimum employee rights standards. And I am super thankful for where things have landed me, despite being annoying and difficult getting here. And thank YOU if you made it this long in the post <3