NY State overtime laws

[shelig]

I am in the process of trying to collect substantial overtime pay from my former employer in New York State. I was a personal assistant, paid hourly, with no jurisdiction to hire or fire people, or make any decisions without my employer's approval. I have spoken with the NYS Dept of Labor several times to recheck if I am, in fact, exempt from overtime. They have repeatedly told me that I definitely qualify, especially since I was paid hourly. My question is this; if I file a claim with the Labor Dept., how will they investigate my unpaid overtime? I am very concerned with this as my former employer paid almost all of her employees under the table, and there were illegal immigrants involved. Although I am quite certain that this is overtime owed me, I do not want to get those I worked with into any trouble with NY State, or the IRS. Will the Labor Dept. check my pay through her accountant? or will they go to her bank(s) and check the checking accounts I was paid through? If they were to do the latter, are they only checking what was paid to me? or do they check for other potential issues? Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.

 

[Patricia_Young]

They will most likely check your time sheets against the pay records. They don't care about net, they care about gross. It's not impossible that they would see something that would cause them to do more of an audit than just you, but unless they stumble across it, they just don't have time to be digging for things that they weren't charged with digging for.

So why DON'T you want to get this employer into trouble? She's breaking all kinds of laws. Somebody needs to call her on it.

 

[shelig]

Reporting Employer to IRS

Yes, she is breaking all kinds of laws, and can certainly afford to pay all of her employees legally. She knows this as well, I had conversations with her regarding this issue, and can remember her accountants telling her that she MUST put everyone on the books. I have no problem with my former employer paying the price for her actions; however, it is my understanding that all of those who were paid illegally, and are in this country illegally, would pay the ultimate price. I liked working with these people, and do not want to see them deported, or in financial ruin because of what they owe the IRS.

 

[Patricia_Young]

Of course, the ones who are in the country illegally, have broken the law, too. Just sayin'.