WAGE AND HOUR LAWSUITS ARE GOOD FOR ETHICAL BUSINESSES

In my business, I help employees get paid what they were due by filing lawsuits against bad employers. Cases range in value from a few thousand to a few million dollars.

That being said, I am NOT an enemy to all businesses. Just to the bad ones.

When I file a lawsuit against a company for not paying overtime or minimum wages, a side effect on business is a leveling of the playing field for law abiding companies that pay legally acceptable wages.

By making bad employers responsible for underpaying their employees, I help the good employers do better. How? Well, if a weak company survives only by cheating its employees out of their wages, then my lawsuit will either make it go out of business, or make it less of a competitive threat when it has to pay up for past failures and pay legal wages in the future.

More often though, my efforts result in a positive change. It may be impossible for an employer to pay lawful wages and still sell products or services at the prices it was charging before it got caught cheating. Labor is usually a primary or secondary expense to a company. If the bad company’s labor costs were artificially low as a result of unlawful pay practices, then the new requirement of lawfully paid overtime and benefits will require a company to make a better product more cheaply, or to charge a price more in line with that charged by law abiding competitors.

My lawsuits provide another benefit to ethical companies: I cause the disclosure of the bad actors in the industry. If a company mistreats and underpays its employees, one can be almost certain that the cheater is chiseling or cheating its suppliers and customers. Potential customers take note too.

Nobody learns anything from silent, poisonous success. It is only when the ill effects of wage theft are revealed does an industry or custom change in a meaningful way, usually for the better.

By making sure employees are properly paid, I make bad businesses change or close, and I make good businesses look better. If you know anyone who is being unpaid or underpaid, either minimum wage or overtime, then let them know they can contact me. If they take action, then the business world gets better for every business.