Long story short, I was thrown under the bus by my company and chosen to take the fall for a huge messy situation that they didn’t want to acknowledge. This fall made the mess go away and it was much easier to just get rid of me.
In my state (and many others!) there is a legal requirement to issue final pay in full within 24 hours of employment end to the former employee. Failure to do this results in the employer owning the former employee a penalty of full pay up until such a time that final pay is fully issued. Payroll failed to pay me my full final paycheck, issue my W2, or return my personal items. They proceeded to ignore emails, place me on hold for 45 minutes+ each call attempt, and lie left and right as I tried to sort out my missing pay.
I filed a complaint with the IRS and the Labor Board back in February (thank you for the advice reddit!). After being polite and told “we’re looking into it” I FINALLY received my final paycheck. I was then ignored and avoided for additional weeks whenever I asked about the penalties.
I got sick and tired of it all and pointed out that I had actually filed everything I needed to in order for these penalties to be applicable.
Wouldn’t you know it, HR suddenly responded within 2 hours and magically admitted in writing that they were issuing a near 10K to me in penalties.
I now have my dream job, I have incredibly work life balance, and I have an extra 10K headed my way. Life can be good!
FIGHT BACK. KNOW THE LAW. CHECK.