Leading-Edge Legal Representation

Can your employer just pay you next month?

On Behalf of | Apr 24, 2020 | Employment Law

You get a new job, and it goes well at first. You like it, the boss seems nice and you get paid on time. You start to settle in and wonder if this could be a career stop.

Then one payday rolls around, and you don’t get paid. You go to your boss and ask what happened. He shrugs it off and tells you that the company is a bit short on cash at the moment. He asks if he can just pay you next month. Is this legal?

It’s not. Under New York law, you’re supposed to get paid at least twice each month. You may get paid every single week. Many companies use a bi-weekly schedule. Under no circumstances should you just have to wait until the following month, no matter what the company’s cashflow looks like at the moment.

Obviously, delaying payment isn’t fair to you. Your boss may try to convince you that it’s fine because you’ll get the money eventually, but you have bills that are due now. You have to pay the mortgage, buy food for your family, etc. That stuff does not wait just because your boss wants it to, and so you must be paid on the set schedule.

Plus, how do you even know that you will get that paycheck next month? That’s not necessarily a gamble you want to take when they are already running out of money.

If you encounter a serious issue like this, you need to know your rights as an employee and what options you have.

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