Total Articles: 3
On the Hook: Company Owners and Managers At Personal Risk for Unpaid Employee Wages
If a company does not timely pay all wages due to an employee, the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act (SCPWA) allows the employee to file a lawsuit for three times the amount of unpaid wages, plus court costs and attorneys fees. The lawsuit for unpaid wages can be filed not only against the company, but also against agents and officers who permit the company to violate the SCPWA.
Employer's Incentive Plan Violates South Carolina Wage Act.
A state appellate court recently ruled that an employer which made incentive plan payouts to employees on dates different than the general target payout dates set forth in the plan violated the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act’s requirement that employers specify the “time and place of payment” of wages. According to the South Carolina Court of Appeals, providing estimated “target dates” of payment, which the employer later admitted served “no purpose whatsoever” and were used only as a general guide, does not give employees sufficient notice.
Incentive Pay Plan Violated Payment of Wages Act; Employer Ordered to Pay Treble Damages, Attorneys Fees, And Costs (pdf).
In Ross v. Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc (Dec. 21, 2006), the South Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that an employer's incentive compensation plan violated the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act because the plan did not provide a date certain when incentive payments would be made.
