Missouri has laws protecting employees from having their paychecks unfairly limited or delayed. If you are having legal issues or disputes with your paycheck, you can rely on these laws to safeguard your rights. Your employer has legal responsibilities regarding your check.
Violations of paycheck laws can lead to legal liability from the state (for violating the laws) and from employees (for improperly withholding, limiting, or delaying their paychecks).
You must be paid at least semi-monthly, whether you are classified as hourly or salaried.
However, employers have the freedom to pay executive, professional, and administrative people monthly. This also includes salespeople who earn at least part of their wages through monthly commissions.
In Missouri, if you are terminated or choose to quit, you should be given your final paycheck immediately. If you are not given your final paycheck when you leave the company, then you must send a written request for the owed wages to your former employer, and they have seven days from that point to hand over the paycheck.
If your employer fails to pay you within those 7 days, they will owe you additional wages for every day you are not paid for up to 60 days.
Missouri has no laws requiring paid sick or paid vacation leave. If an employer wants to offer paid leave benefits, then it is up to them to provide it to you. If you have unused paid sick or vacation days, whether they will be paid to you when you leave is dependent on (1) what is in your employment contract and (2) your employer’s standard policy as to whether those unused days will be paid to you when your job ends.
Wage garnishment is a special arrangement that allows an employer or creditor to access some of an employee’s wages and collect them to pay the debt. If you owe a creditor, the creditor can go to court, obtain a decree against you for nonpayment, and then garnish your paycheck.
For example, If a creditor is seeking to collect for a type of personal debt, such as unpaid credit card or hospital bills, they have to go to court first and get a court judgment. Once the creditor has secured the court judgment, they can garnish your income to pay off the debt.
Wage garnishment also allows an employer to set aside some of an employee’s paycheck to pay debts. Imagine that you had a loan from your employer. Your employer can deduct that cost from your paycheck through wage garnishment. However, your employer will have to go through the court process first. Before your income can be subject to garnishment, your employer has to sue you and win a court judgment against you.
After they obtain the judgment, your employer will have the authority from the court to have your paycheck garnished until the debt is paid off. Depending on the situation, the employer may send the payment amounts directly to the court or work with an outside party to manage the funds for them.
An automatic garnishment can be placed on your wages for specific types of debts, including:
If your employer withholds your paycheck, you are entitled to fight for your paycheck. There are two basic ways you can pursue your owed wages:
If many workers have had the same problem with their pay, the lawsuit may be filed as a “class action” suit. In a class action suit, a group of people with similar complaints band together and sue the defendant as one entity. If the defendant loses, the defendant will have to make a very large payment to cover all that is owed to the whole group of people.
A class action suit is very useful if the amount of money you are entitled to is not high – particularly, it is not high enough to economically practical to bother to file your lawsuit. By uniting your claims with your co-workers, the group members share all the costs of bringing a lawsuit, and the amount of damages they can be collectively paid can be very high.
Under federal and Missouri law, your employer can deduct your wages to cover the cost of company uniforms or equipment costs. However, they cannot take so much that it lowers your wages below Missouri’s minimum wage (as of 2023, it is $12.00/hour).
Before hiring you, an employer can also request that you take medical tests necessary for the job. In Missouri, you will have to pay for the tests, unlike in some states where the employer has to pay.
Missouri employers are legally prohibited from discriminating against their employees or future employee candidates. For example, they are not allowed to withhold paychecks based solely on the person’s age, sex, race, religion, national background, or political affiliation. If discrimination has occurred, initiating legal action with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) may be necessary.
The EEOC will launch an investigation into the matter and may prescribe an appropriate remedy for the affected employee or employees. If the EEOC finds there has been discrimination, it will take steps to punish the employer and change its policies. If the EEOC denies your claim, it will issue you a right-to-sue letter that allows you to take the matter to the local civil courts.
You must assert your rights if your employer is interfering with your ability to get your paycheck. A Missouri employment lawyer can fight on your behalf for the paycheck amounts you are owed. When you bring them your problem, an experienced local attorney can help you determine your next steps.
Your attorney will advise you regarding what documentation you should collect as evidence and can help you file a complaint with the necessary agencies. Further, should you need to take private legal action against your employer, your attorney can initiate a civil lawsuit on your behalf and represent you in court as needed.
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