|
Employers may get employees to sign a release, or agreement, or acknowledgement, or some other sort of paper saying that the employee has been paid his "full wages" or has received a certain amount of money in "full settlement" of his claim for wages or overtime (or some sort of similar paper). Sometimes the employee will have no choice but to sign such a paper or the employer will refuse to give the worker his paycheck. These sort of release documents are often NOT ENFORCEABLE against the worker and WILL NOT PREVENT the worker from suing the employer in Court for the full amount of unpaid wages or overtime that the worker is owed. Courts understand that employers can manipulate workers and have much more power than workers and can force workers to sign releases. For these reasons in cases involving unpaid overtime or minimum wages under Federal law Courts will refuse to enforce a written waiver or release of the worker's right to his unpaid minimum wages or overtime unless the worker gave the release after a Court case was started or the release was given as part of a settlement by the Department of Labor. |