Employeer owes me backpay, do I have any rights to correct retro pay and how or whom do i contact?

I have been doing new job duties for 1 yr, but employer is only increaseing my hrly rate effective 9/07. Since I have been performing the job since last december, I think I should get paid since then not just from the last 3 mths. I have proof that I have been performing the duties of my new responsiblities. Can I get fired for pursuing what is rightfully mine?

Nope, as long as you have the proof you should be able to get the back pay you deserve. Try dealing directly with payroll instead of your boss if possible - its not going behind their back, but its just dealing with the people who best understand all the processes. If you don't have a separte payroll person/division in your company talk to your boss again.

You could try to collect retro pay, but since you are a relatively new employee you may not be able to persuade your employer that they should pay you the pay that you feel you have earned. The employer may try to claim that you were in training so the regular pay was not due you. You could contact your State Labor Board and they could inform you what your rights are by the laws in your state. I doubt that you could be fired for that reason, but if a employer wants to fire a person they can always find a excuse or they could make you so miserable that you would quit. As bad as I hate to say, it is very hard to fight your employer because of the power that they have over their employees. If you quit and go to another job, your new employer may contact the business that you left and you get a bad reference and may not get the job. I know that I have not been much help to you but I have been in the same position and it is awfully hard to fight the system. Some employers believe that they can treat their employees any way they wish and the employee can do nothing about it.

unless you have a written contract you will not be able to collect anything. There are no provisions for raises that are litigious, and yes you can get fired for anything.

Did he SPECIFICALLY STATE that you would get an IMMEDIATE raise when your new duties started and gave you an exact dollar amount that he turned into the HR department?

If not, then you are NOT due ANY backpay.

If you make a stink about it, they'll fire you.

Employers are not obligated by law to provide raises -- no matter what your job responsibilities are or if they change.

The only way they would owe you retroactively is if you have a contract stating you would receive the increase by a certain date. If you don't have that, you could be fired for demanding back pay. At the very least they would likely never promote you again.

It doesn't matter what duties you were doing during that time, the employer does NOT legally owe you back pay for it - it's NOT rightfully yours. They do NOT owe it to you legally, and would not have had to give you a raise now either, no matter what extra duties from the original you are performing and when you started performing them.

Can you get fired? Sure. Unless you have some kind of contract they can terminate you whenever they want to, and don't have to even have or give you a reason.

Just how do you intend to "pursue what is rightfully" yours? If you go to any authorities, they'll just tell you that you aren't entitled to anything, and laugh at you for asking once you are out of their sight.


The first responder might be telling you what you want to hear, but he doesn't have a clue what the real laws are.