Employer never paid overtime and Misclassified me
employment attorney Virginia Aug 1, 2026
Looking for advice before contacting an employment attorney. I’ve worked for the same company for about 8 years, making around $14/hr. For years they classified me as a 1099, even though they hired me, assigned my work, controlled my schedule/hours, and told me when to work. I was eventually switched to W-2 without the job itself really changing. My normal schedule was about 56 hours/week (112 biweekly) and I was not paid overtime for hours over 40. I have the payroll records. One two-week paystub shows 251 hours, all listed as “Regular” at $14/hr ($3,514), with no separate overtime line. That stub also has a separate $994 salary payment. Other two-week stubs show 115 and 118 regular hours at $14/hr, also without an overtime line. I also have another record showing 591 hours. Even using only my normal 56-hour week and ignoring the extreme pay periods, the missing additional half-time premium at $14/hr would be about $5,824/year, or $46,592 over 8 years, although I understand the statute of limitations may mean I can’t recover all 8 years. I’m also technically still employed there. My patient passed away about 2 months ago, and the company has refused to give me another patient, so I’ve had zero hours since then. At the same time, they asked me to let another person use my EVV/login to clock in under my account and offered to pay me a small amount each week for letting them use it. They won’t give me a patient to actually work, but want to pay me for someone else using my login. I have paystubs, tax records, EVV/time records, schedules, texts and other documentation. My biggest concern is that a close family member still works for this company. If I hire an attorney and they retaliate by cutting my family member’s hours, stopping their assignments, writing them up or firing them because of my claim, would my family member have any protection? I’m trying to figure out: How strong does this wage/overtime and 1099 misclassification case sound? How far back can I recover wages in Virginia? Could liquidated/double damages and attorney’s fees apply? What should I do about the request to let someone else use my EVV login? Could the company retaliating against my family member because of my wage claim be illegal? Should I preserve everything and speak with an attorney before contacting the employer or any government agency? I’m keeping the company completely anonymous here. I’m mainly trying to figure out what type of attorney I need and how to protect myself and my family member while recovering the wages I wasn’t paid. Location: Virginia
