If you paycheck did not include full payment of all minimum wages, you could be due unpaid wages and several thousand in penalties. Oregon uses a three tier minimum wage rate which depends upon where the employee performed the work. As of July 1, 2023, if you work in an urban area, generally defined as the Portland Metropolitan area, the minimum wage rate is $15.45. Minimum wage page. If you work in nonurban counties, your minimum wage rate is $13.20 per hour. Finally, standard minimum wage rate is $14.20 per hour. If you work in multiple areas, the employer must either pay you the highest rate for all hours you work, or track the hours you work in each of the areas, then pay you the correct hourly rate for each hour you work based upon where you worked those hours. If you were not paid the correct minimum wage rate, you likely have a minimum wage claim.  Our wage lawyers can sue employers on your behalf to recover unpaid minimum wages and civil penalties. Each year on July 1, the minimum rates change. Employers have to update and pay the new correct rate. Minimum wage page.

Other than paying less per hour, employers violate Oregon’s minimum wage in multiple ways. One way to short minimum wage is by not counting all hours the employee worked. If an employer is paying at or near minimum wage, but does not pay for all hours worked, the average hourly rate could be less than minimum wage. If you are due minimum wages, you could also be due a minimum wage civil penalty where an Oregon employer or boss pays less than the minimum wage. This means that you could receive up to $3,708.00 as a civil penalty in addition to the unpaid minimum wages due. This is true even if you are only a few cents per hour less than the minimum wage rate required by Oregon. Further, the minimum wage changes every year in July. If the employer does not pay the correct amount when the rates change, you could be due the penalty. If your employer failed to pay the correct rate for a large number of employees, you can bring a class action lawsuit to recover the minimum wages, minimum wage civil penalty, and attorney fees for all class members, including yourself.  Our wage lawyers (attorneys) regularly prosecute wage claims and class action wage claims for employees who were not paid all minimum wages.

New win by Schuck Law clarifies that Oregon employees must be paid for lunch breaks (legally known as a meal periods) and that employers must provide lunch breaks. A lunch break is required an employee works six or more hours. The Oregon Court of Appeals clarified that employers must not only provide lunch breaks, but must ensure that employees take a full 30 minute lunch break. Avamere Case. If the employee does not take a full 30 minute lunch break, the employer must pay the employee wages for the full 30 minute lunch break. Because Schuck Law just won this exact issue against two Avamere health care companies, no employer can argue that a policy to take a lunch is sufficient to avoid liability for the wages.  Nor can employers argue that it was the employees choice to shorten their lunch break. These arguments were being allowed by federal and state courts alike, and they are no longer valid. Thus, it is a technical requirement that the employee receive the full 30 minute lunch break or be paid for their lunch break. Few exceptions exist to the lunch break requirement.

Employers often use modern time clocks, like Kronos, track the time you leave for your lunch and the time you return. These computer time clock keep accurate records of when employees leave for lunch break and when employees return from lunch break. Employers often use this fact against an employee who returns from lunch break late. It an also be used by employees to prove that the lunch break taken was less than 30 full minutes. If so, the employee is due 30 minutes of wages. This means the employer pays for the time you the employee is actually working during the lunch break, the employee is due additional wages. Where a large employers violate the lunch break laws, employees can sue as a class action to recover wages and penalties. The penalties can equal up to 30 days for each penalty for each employee. For an employee making $15 per hour, each penalty can equal $3,600.

If you think the employer may owe you lunch break wages, track the time you punch out for lunch and the time you punch back in.  Some phone applications may be able to help, but certainly you can write them down.  Be accurate down to the minute because one minute either way matters.  If you do not get 30 minutes uninterrupted time for lunch, then the lunch wages are due and you should call the wage lawyers at Schuck Law.

Electronic time clocks are a powerful weapon employers can use to avoid paying the wages you earned.  Modern time clocks, like Kronos, are simply computers.  Employers can program them to change your punch times automatically.  By doing so, employers can avoid paying you all the wages you are due.  Electronic time clocks can be programmed to change start and stop punches, make short lunches into full lunches, and you may never even know your boss is changing your times.

You are not defenseless.  Start by always tracking the time you punch in and punch out.  This includes lunches.  Some phone applications may be able to help, but certainly you can write them down.  Be accurate down to the minute because one minute either way can matter.  If your employer is not paying 100% of your time, then call the wage lawyers at Schuck Law.  In addition to the unpaid wages you find, you are likely due civil penalties, and if your employment has ended, penalty wages. Each of these penalties can exceed several thousand dollars and are in addition to your wages.

Further, if your employer is programming their electronic time clocks to avoid payment of all wages, the case may be a class action.  There are benefits to bringing class actions and helping other employees recover their wages too.  The wage lawyers at Schuck Law are experienced with time clock alterations and with class actions.

The employment and wage claim lawyers at Schuck Law, LLC regularly prosecute Oregon all kinds of wage claim lawsuits for employees who were not paid all their wages, minimum wages, overtime wages, deducted wages, or late paid wages. Our wage claim attorneys also prosecute class action wage claim lawsuits for groups of employees who were not paid their wages because of a uniform  practice of the employers. (Minimum Wage Class Actions in Oregon)(https://www.wageclaim.org/class-action/) In addition to recovery  of wages, and civil penalty wages,an employee may also sue to recover their attorney fees incurred in the prosecution of the wage claim lawsuit. In addition to wage claims, our employment lawyers also prosecute employment discrimination, employment wrongful  termination, employment harassment, and employment family leave laws.

The Oregon employment and wage lawyers (attorneys) at Schuck Law, LLC prosecute Oregon employment claims and wage claims  throughout Oregon, including but not limited to, Portland, Astoria, Beaverton, Portland, Bend, Clackamas, Portland, Coos Bay, Grants Pass, Hillsboro, Portland, Hood River, Klamath Falls, Portland, Lincoln City, Oregon City, Portland, Madras, McMinnville, Medford, Portland, Sandy, St. Helens, and Tillamook.