Wage Theft · Unpaid Overtime · Stolen Tips
New York unpaid wages and overtime lawyer.
Six years back. Double damages. The employer pays your lawyer.
Shorted overtime, stolen tips, off the books pay, misclassification: New York law lets you recover all of it across a six year window, usually adds liquidated damages that double it, and shifts your attorney's fees to the employer.
Employment cases are handled under a written retainer, sometimes together with co-counsel. The retainer names who works on your case and sets out the fee, any division of it, and the court costs and case expenses you may remain responsible for.
Reviewed by Daniel Hochman, Esq. · Last updated November 1, 2026
New York lets a worker recover unpaid wages, overtime and stolen tips going back six years under the Labor Law, twice the federal window, and liquidated damages generally double what is owed. The statutes also make the employer pay your attorney's fees. Being paid in cash with no pay stubs does not defeat the claim, but the window only reaches back six years, so every month you wait drops the oldest month off the end.
What counts as wage theft.
FLSA · NEW YORK LABOR LAW
If any of these happened to you, money is owed: overtime worked past 40 hours but paid straight time or not at all; pay below minimum wage; tips skimmed by managers or pooled with people who never earned them; hours shaved off timesheets; work performed before clocking in or after clocking out; a "salary" or "manager" title used to dodge overtime for someone doing hourly work; a 1099 handed to a worker treated in every real way as an employee; or pay docked for uniforms, tools, or register shortages. New York's Labor Law is broader and harsher on employers than the federal statute, and both apply at once.
The math that makes these cases move.
New York claims reach back six years. Liquidated damages generally double what is owed. Spread of hours pay adds another hour of wages for long days in some industries, and wage notice and wage statement violations carry their own statutory penalties. Then the statutes shift attorney's fees onto the employer. That structure is why wage cases settle faster than almost anything else in litigation: every month the employer fights, its own bill and yours both grow, and it pays both.
The industries where it concentrates.
- Restaurants, delis, and kitchens: tip theft, off the clock prep, spread of hours
- Delivery and app work: sub minimum effective pay and misclassification
- Construction and day labor: cash pay, flat daily rates ignoring overtime
- Retail, salons, car washes, and warehouses: shaved hours and unpaid trainings
- Home care and domestic work: 24 hour shifts paid for 13 when the sleep and meal breaks never happened
No records is their problem, not yours.
Employers are required to keep accurate time and pay records and to give proper wage notices. When they fail, New York law lets the worker's own credible account of hours carry the claim. Paid in cash, no stubs, no punch clock: those facts typically make the case stronger, because every missing record is the employer's violation.
Start now, quietly.
Write down your schedule as best you remember it, week by week. Photograph any schedules, chats, or pay records you can lawfully access. Do not announce anything at work; retaliation is illegal, but silence while we build the claim is smarter. Then call. The consultation is free, confidential, and yields a number: what six years of what they took actually adds up to.
A flat-fee attorney demand letter often resolves it without a lawsuit. DemandLetterNY.com, a service of Hochman Law PC, or learn more about flat-fee demand letters. Paid as a 1099 freelancer rather than an employee? See the New York Freelance Isn't Free Act: statewide since 2024, with double damages for unpaid freelance invoices.
A flat-fee letter drafted and signed by a New York attorney: Unpaid wages demand letter at DemandLetterNY.com, a service of Hochman Law PC.
Questions people ask us.
I was paid in cash, off the books. Can I still recover?
Yes. Off the books pay does not defeat a wage claim; it usually strengthens it, because the employer kept no lawful records and the law then credits your own account of the hours. Cash pay and missing stubs are their violations, not your problem.
I still work there. Will I be fired for claiming my wages?
Retaliation for asserting wage rights is independently illegal under federal and New York law, and it creates its own claim with its own damages on top of the wages owed. Many wage cases are brought by current employees.
How far back can I claim?
Six years under the New York Labor Law, twice the federal window. Years of shorted overtime and stolen tips add up fast across six years, and liquidated damages can double the total.
What does it cost?
These statutes make the employer pay the worker's attorney's fees, and most matters are handled on contingency under a written retainer. Everything is set out in a written retainer first.
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