Posted November 3, 20252:25 am
It’s your payday, but there is no paycheck. You ask the boss what happened. Plenty of excuses, but no money. That’s called wage theft.
What should you do? There are a few options for recovering your pay. They aren’t simple or fast, but they have helped Ohioans get at least some of their money. In recent years, more workers are attempting to recover their lost wages.
What counts as wage theft?
Wage theft can take many forms, including:
- A worker not being paid overtime
- An employer not giving workers their paychecks
- Workers being paid less than the minimum wage
What are the rules for filing a complaint to get my pay?
You can file a complaint with the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Wage and Hour or with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. You can also sue in small claims court or hire a lawyer to represent you in state or federal court.
Grace Heffernan, the executive director of the Northeast Ohio Worker Center, said that before deciding to file a complaint with the Ohio Department of Commerce, sue in small claims court or take any other legal action, a wage theft victim should first consider asking their employer for their back pay.
“Often that is better done by taking collective action with your co-workers,” she said. “All of these other solutions can take a really long time. They can take months and months and months – and that is if you are successful.”
If your co-workers aren’t in the same predicament, Heffernan suggests speaking with your boss regarding not being paid.
How the Northeast Ohio Worker Center and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland help wage theft victims
The Northeast Ohio Worker Center and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland are among the nonprofit organizations in Greater Cleveland offering free help to workers who want to recover their back pay.
The Northeast Ohio Worker Center’s services encompass wage theft clinics, including bilingual clinics and one-on-one consultations. To find out more, including scheduling an appointment, call (216) 302-4622 or click this link.
Legal Aid represents low-income clients in Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake and Lorain counties with wage theft and other civil issues. In order to qualify for Legal Aid services, you generally need to make below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. This means a single person has to make under $31,300 and a family of four less than $64,300. Click this link to find the 2025 federal poverty guidelines based on family size.
Legal Aid decides whether to represent people on a case-by-case basis. Find out how to apply for help from Legal Aid by clicking this link.
Legal Aid holds Brief Advice Clinics, where people can talk to a lawyer even if they don’t meet federal poverty guidelines. By attending, wage theft victims have the opportunity to get some often crucial legal information that can assist them in their quest to recover back pay, according to Patrick Haney, a Legal Aid supervising attorney.
Find out more about upcoming Brief Advice Clinics by clicking this link. The next one scheduled for Cleveland will be from 10 to 11 a.m., Nov. 15 at the Cleveland Public Library Rice branch at 11535 Shaker Blvd.
These are the types of wage theft complaints you can file with the Ohio Department of Commerce
The Ohio Department of Commerce refers to wage theft cases as wage and hour violation complaints. You can find out more about filing a complaint with the department’s Bureau of Wage & Hour Administration by clicking on this link.
These are the types of complaints that can be filed with the bureau:
- Being paid less than the minimum wage
- Not being paid overtime
- An employer making unauthorized payroll deductions
- An employer holding back the last paycheck.
The department rejects a substantial number of complaints. Heffernan said the worker center has found that complaints are rejected for such things as not using an employer’s official name. Some workplaces do business using a name that differs from its official one. This is why she recommends wage theft victims consider taking advantage of free help in filing the complaint.
A worker may choose to file with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. To find out about filing a wage and hour violation complaint with the Labor Department, click on this link. Many people don’t choose this option because they can only recover amounts using the federal minimum wage, which in 2025 is $7.25. Ohio’s minimum wage is $10.70.
Wage theft victims can also attempt to recover back pay up to $6,000 by filing a suit in small claims court. Small claims courts are part of municipal courts.
You may not have to pay a lawyer to file a wage theft case
If a wage victim wins in court, federal and state labor laws require that the employer pay the worker’s legal fees for the case. This is even when the worker didn’t pay those legal fees up front. For the most part, this only applies to lawsuits in which workers weren’t paid overtime they were owed or were receiving less than minimum wage.
“This is why private attorneys are – I won’t say all – are willing to take those cases on,” Haney said.
He said the Ohio Employment Lawyers Association website is a resource for people looking for attorneys who represent workers.
Having good records is essential to winning a wage theft case
In order to win back wages, it is important for workers to have good records, including those showing the hours worked and the rate of pay, Haney said.
When a case is filed, the worker has to prove their claim but also how much they lost, Haney said.
Sometimes, people work jobs where their employer doesn’t provide documents that would offer such proof. Haney said workers should try to capture any communication between themselves and their employer, if possible, to show this. It can even be text messages.
He is hopeful that the Ohio Paycheck Protection Act, which since April has required employers to provide employees with detailed written or electronic pay statements, will make it easier for workers to prove wage theft.
Without additional funding for enforcement, Heffernan is less optimistic. Find more about the new law, including how to file a complaint, by clicking on this link.
Source: Signal Cleveland - Owed money by your employer? Here are options for fighting back