What this process is for
Unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, missed break premiums, unreimbursed business expenses and waiting time penalties. It is an administrative route through the Labor Commissioner's office rather than a court case.
It costs nothing to file, you can represent yourself, and your employer can be ordered to pay. The main cost is time — the process runs in months rather than weeks.
The sequence
You file a claim. The office reviews it and typically schedules a settlement conference, an informal meeting where a deputy tries to resolve it. If that fails, the matter proceeds to a hearing before a hearing officer, which is more formal but far less formal than court. A decision follows, which can be appealed to the Superior Court.
Most claims that resolve do so at or before the settlement conference.
What decides these claims
Records. Yours if you have them, the employer's if you do not. Employers are required to keep accurate time and pay records, and where they have not, a reasonable and consistent estimate by the employee carries real weight.
This is the practical reason to write down what you remember now: pay stubs, schedules, texts about shifts, anything showing hours actually worked.
Retaliation for filing is a separate claim
If anything changes at work after you file — hours, shifts, discipline — document the timing immediately. Retaliation claims are often worth more than the underlying wages, and they depend on sequence.
Gather what you have
Pay stubs, schedules, time records, any written communication about hours or pay.
Work out the amounts
Separate by category — regular wages, overtime, break premiums, expenses, waiting time. The estimator helps structure this.
File the claim
Through the Labor Commissioner's office; forms and current filing addresses are on their site.
Prepare for the settlement conference
Bring organised copies. Know your number and your minimum.
If it proceeds to hearing
Testimony is taken under oath. Documents matter more than argument.