Wife fired, not getting last paycheck

[crucifixion]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Wife was an RN, started working but messed up with some medications and because she didnt chart right, they fired her. Legitimate reasons, not complaining about that.

However, its been almost a month and still have not gotten the last check. She's been there a few times talked to HR but HR says the supervisor hasn't released the payroll info yet for whatever reason. So we've been trying to get a hold of the supervisor but he is always busy. He is busy normally but I would have expected some action by now.

What can I do? I want to call him and say "Persuant to section X, you are required by law to release this information so my wife can get her paycheck, etc" but I'm not sure what it is.

If you can provide me with the legal rules or equivalent so that we can get some action from the supervisor, I would appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[ecmst12]

Contact the CA DOL and file a claim. I think in your state, the final paycheck is due on the day the employee is fired, so it is definitely late!

 

[Beth3]

Yup. CA reg's require that final wages be paid "at once" to an employee who is fired. I agree - your wife should file a complaint with CA's Department of Labor. It's ridiculous that she hasn't received her final paycheck yet - and her employer deserves whatever sanctions the State can invoke.

 

[crucifixion]

Thanks for the input.

Part of the reason we haven't been so aggressive in making them give her the paycheck is because she was fired for mixing up her medications and giving the wrong medication to the wrong person and the person got a small allergic reaction. But since the families didn't sue the hospital (because they said they understand these things can happen and they really liked my wife as a nurse to their patient), the hospital in turn didn't take action against her (because they also liked her as a person).

So I was kind of hesitant to stick my chest and say you better pay us or else I'll file a claim with DOL or whomever, because then I was afraid they may in turn file something on her for negligence or something.

But I think I'll call the supervisor, mention that I"m aware of my wife's legal right for getting prompt termination paycheck and take it from there.

She barely started the job so doubt the check is more than $500, and so I didn't want to upset the hospital and have to deal with $1000s in legal fees or whatever