Unpaid Wage Lawyers in Seattle

Withheld Pay and Your Right to Recover It

Unpaid wages, also known as back pay, are wages you earned but your employer never handed over, whether that means skipped overtime, hours worked off the clock, or a final paycheck that never arrived. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Washington’s wage laws, that pay belongs to you, and Seattle layers on its own protections. At Rekhi & Wolk, we treat withheld pay as a form of theft and hold employers across King County accountable for it, including through the class actions we have used to return money to workers they shorted.

If you think your employer owes you back pay, reach out to discuss your options. We can help you recover what you earned.

How to Know if You’re a Victim of Wage Theft

If you worked hours your employer never paid for, you may be owed back pay. Federal, Washington, and Seattle law all require employers to pay at least minimum wage, plus overtime for many workers.

What wage laws protect employees in and around Seattle?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the federal floor for minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping. Washington’s Minimum Wage Act mirrors it with stronger protections, including a higher minimum wage and paid sick and safe time. Seattle goes further still: a higher city minimum wage and a Wage Theft Ordinance, enforced by the Seattle Office of Labor Standards, that lets workers recover all compensation owed and shields them from retaliation for speaking up.

Washington law also guarantees meal and rest breaks, requires all owed wages to be paid at termination, and bars deductions that benefit the employer.

Exemptions from FLSA and the Washington Minimum Wage Act – Executives, Professionals, and Independent Contractors

These protections do not cover everyone. Independent contractors are not entitled to “wages,” and salaried executive, administrative, and professional employees earning over $455 per week are exempt from overtime.

Whether you truly qualify as exempt, or have been labeled a contractor when you are really an employee, is not always clear. If your classification doesn’t match how you actually work, contact us; we explain that line in the misclassification section below.

The Most Common Wage and Hour Abuses

Failure to Pay Overtime

Salaried or hourly, you may be owed overtime for any hours past 40 in a week. On the long production shifts common at aerospace and manufacturing employers in Renton, that overtime is easy to miscalculate or leave off the check. Contact us if you are in an overtime dispute.

Failure to Pay Minimum Wage

Employers underpay in more ways than a low hourly rate: shorting tipped workers, not counting every hour, or paying a flat rate that dips below the legal floor. Seattle’s minimum wage runs higher than the state’s, enforced by the Office of Labor Standards, and app-based and gig workers get their own minimum pay protections.

What is the Minimum Wage in Seattle?

Seattle’s minimum wage is currently $16.69 per hour for most workers, or $15.00 at smaller employers (under 500 employees) if you also get $1.69 in other compensation like tips or healthcare. Public works contracts and nearby cities like SeaTac, which sets its own rate for hospitality and transportation workers near the airport, can carry different minimums. Statewide, Washington’s minimum wage is $13.69 per hour.

Failure to Receive Breaks

You are entitled to a paid 10-minute rest break every four hours and an unpaid 30-minute meal break every five hours, and employers must make sure you take them or pay you for the ones you miss. Many workers never get them. For work inside Seattle city limits, missed breaks count as compensation owed under the city’s Wage Theft Ordinance, an added route to recover them.

Paid Sick Leave

Washington employers must provide paid sick leave under Initiative 1433, passed by voters in 2016, and Seattle adds further protections on top. If you took sick time you were never paid for, contact us to check whether you were eligible.

Violations to Tipped Employees

Employers must pass on all tips, gratuities, and service charges, and cannot use them to dip below minimum wage. It is a common problem for tipped restaurant and bar staff along the Kirkland waterfront, where pooled tips and service charges don’t always reach the people who earned them. If your tips leave you below minimum wage, contact us to recover the difference.

Misclassification of Employees

Contractor pay isn’t covered by the FLSA or Minimum Wage Act, so some employers misclassify employees as independent contractors to pay them less. It is especially common in tech, where companies around Redmond lean on contract labor and sometimes label real employees as contractors to dodge overtime and benefits.

Employee vs. Independent Contractor

The line usually comes down to how much control your employer has. You may actually be an employee if:

• You do the core work of the business;
• The employer sets your hours and where you work;
• You use the employer’s tools and equipment;
• The employer trained you.

Failure to Pay Off the Clock Work

Employer-directed travel, meetings, required training, and opening or closing up all count as paid work. In the warehouse and distribution corridor around Kent, where shifts start with loading and end with cleanup, this off-the-clock time is a top way hourly workers get shorted.

Failure to Pay Commissions & Bonuses

Commissions and bonuses come down to your contract, and failing to pay them is a contract violation we can help with. We see it often among sales and finance professionals on the Eastside, particularly in Bellevue, where variable pay is a big share of total earnings.

Illegal Paycheck Deductions

In Washington, an employer can make some deductions even if they drop your pay below minimum wage:

• Deductions required by law, like taxes, Medicare, and workers’ compensation;
• Court-ordered garnishments;
• Deductions you agreed to in advance and in writing that benefit you, such as cash advances, purchases from the employer, rent, insurance, or medical care.

What an employer cannot do is deduct for something that benefits them. If deductions on your pay aren’t authorized by law or look too high, contact us to see whether you’re owed back pay.

Why Seattle Workers Choose Rekhi & Wolk for Unpaid Wage Claims

We are a Seattle employment law firm that represents workers, not employers. From our office at 529 Warren Ave N in Lower Queen Anne, we have recovered more than $10 million in owed wages for workers across King County and Washington. Here is what sets our back pay work apart.

• A track record in local courts. We litigate wage-and-hour class actions in King County Superior Court, federal court in Seattle, and Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma, with cases against employers like Reece Construction, Sun Pacific Energy, Trappers Sushi, West Coast Security, and Avvo, plus prevailing-wage recoveries on public works.
• A lawyer who knows this county. Partner Hardeep S. Rekhi, a Washington Super Lawyer from 2013 to 2021 with 15+ years in wage-and-hour cases, sits on the WELA board, has served as a King County District Court Judge Pro Tem, and is a Seattle Ethics and Election Commission commissioner.
• Real attention to your claim. We take a limited number of clients, so you get direct access to your attorney and a firm ready to go to trial rather than push a fast, low settlement. Our team brings over 50 years of combined experience.
• A clear process. We pinpoint which federal, state, and Seattle laws apply, help you gather pay stubs, schedules, and messages, and negotiate or litigate until you are paid.

The Statute of Limitations for Back Pay in Washington State

Under Washington’s Wage Payment Act, you can pursue back pay and other wage claims even after you have left the job. How long you have to file depends on the specific law and the route you take, and some deadlines are short, so it is worth talking to an attorney early. If you are retaliated against for filing a wage complaint, you have 180 days to file a retaliation claim.

Unpaid Wage Lawyers at Rekhi & Wolk

From our office in Lower Queen Anne, our back pay lawyers represent workers across Seattle and the wider King County area, from downtown and South Lake Union out to Bellevue, Kent, Renton, and Everett. Wage theft often travels with other mistreatment, and the same team takes on workplace discrimination when it does. Call us to find out whether you are owed unpaid wages and let our employment lawyers help you recover what you earned.