Wyoming Paycheck Laws

If you are having any dispute with your employer regarding your paycheck, you must find out what rights you have. The Labor Standards Office of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services can inform you about your rights under Wyoming law. If it turns out that your employer has violated your paycheck rights, you may need to initiate legal action to obtain a remedy.

When Must Paychecks Be Sent Out Under Wyoming Law?

In Wyoming, you should receive a paycheck semimonthly. While this is a basic requirement and sets a minimum number of times per month that you are entitled to receive a paycheck, your employer can also pay you more often if they want to. This law applies in the same way to both salaried and hourly employees.

Some fields of work have even more specific applicable laws. If you work for a mining, railroad, refinery, or prospecting company, or at a job that produces oil or gas or a factory, mill, or workshop, your paydays should fall on the first and fifteenth of each month.

What Happens to My Paycheck If I Am Fired or If I Quit in Wyoming?

If your employment ends, whether you have been fired or quit, you are owed your last paycheck by the next scheduled payday.

Moreover, if you earned legitimate paid vacation benefits according to your company’s policy, you have a right to a payout for any unused vacation days when you leave. The laws requiring financial compensation for paid time off also apply, whether you quit or were terminated.

Can My Paycheck be Garnished According to Wyoming Law?

Imagine that you damaged or lost your employer’s property. 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 garnished, your employer has to sue you for negligence 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. If your employer has received money for the damaged or lost property from an insurance company, they can only garnish your wages for $250 or the deductible, whichever is less expensive.

Alternatively, another option is that you can offer to pay for the damages on your own and avoid a court proceeding.

In addition to lost or damaged property, an employer may garnish an employee’s wages for:

• Cash register shortages
• An employee’s failure to repay advances of vacation, sick or personal days
• A loan made by the employer

Does My Employer Have to Pay Me Overtime?

Wyoming has no law requiring an employer to pay overtime, with one exception: Wyoming law provides time and one-half overtime pay for all workers employed upon any public works project of the state of Wyoming or any county, city, or town.

Does My Employer Have to Pay Me for Leaves of Absence?

Wyoming only has laws relating to required time off and leaves of absence for:

• Jury duty leave
• Crime victims/witnesses leave
• Voting leave
• Military leave

Be aware that where there is overlap between federal, state, and/or local law, complying with the law that offers the greatest rights or benefits to the employee will generally apply.

Can I Recover a Withheld Paycheck from a Wyoming Employer?

Your employer has no right to withhold your salary or refuse to provide you with your paycheck. If you have legal issues or disputes receiving your pay, you can file a Claim for Wages with the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services’ Labor Standards Office.

If your paycheck is incomplete, which has happened several times in the past – whether to you or your co-workers – you may file a wage and hour lawsuit. The court will investigate to determine the cause of the violation and will provide a remedy for all affected employees. Most wage and hour lawsuits involve the number of hours worked, the employee’s wage rate, overtime laws, or other similar wage issues.

If many workers have had the same problem, 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 owed to the whole group of people.

A class action suit can be very helpful if the amount of money you would individually sue over is not high – particularly, it is not high enough to file your own personal lawsuit. By uniting their claims, the group members share all of the costs of bringing a lawsuit, and the amount of damages they can be collectively paid can be very high.

Does Wyoming Law Protect from Employment Discrimination?

The Wyoming Fair Employment Practices Act (WFEPA) prohibits an employer with two or more employees from discriminating based on protected characteristics, including:

• Age (40 and over)
• Sex
• Race
• Creed
• Color
• National origin
• Ancestry
• Pregnancy
• Disability

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) processes and handles cases involving employment discrimination first. The affected employee must file a claim with the EEOC, which will then investigate the matter and prescribe a legal remedy. Only after the employee has exhausted their remedies with the EEOC can they file a private lawsuit for damages (for instance, if the EEOC’s remedy is unsatisfactory).

Does Wyoming Law Require Employers to Treat Men and Women Equally?

The Wyoming Equal Pay Act requires all employers to pay men and women equally for equal work. An employer is prohibited from discriminating between employees on the same worksite based on gender by paying female employees less than the rate paid to male employees for equal work on jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility and are performed under similar conditions.

Exceptions are allowed for pay differences based on the following:

• A seniority or merit system
• A system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production
• A differential based on any factor other than gender

What Else Do I Need to Know About Wyoming’s Paycheck Law?

Your employer can require you to pay for uniforms or company equipment and deduct that amount from your paycheck. However, for the deduction to be legal, certain requirements must be met, which include:

• The item must be assigned to you for the entire time you work there
• There must be a receipt or written acknowledgment of the purchase
• The item must be necessary for your job
• You are allowed to take the item or property with you when you leave your job

Where Can I Find the Right Lawyer to Help with My Paycheck Issue in Wyoming?

The assistance of an employment lawyer can be crucial whenever you have to defend your right to your paycheck. Thus, hiring a Wyoming employment lawyer may be best when you suspect your employer of violating your rights.