@zigzaggin
It's a civil thing, so the punishment is money. Sometimes they will have to pay you 2x or 3x what they stole depending on circumstances and how egregious their actions were.

(He's also probably going to get in trouble with the IRS for not doing his employment taxes right, but that's a separate thing from the wage theft. Only commit one crime at a time 🙃)

All of this is mostly just going to cost him money though

@zigzaggin @Quenby Some states, like NY, I believe tack on interest & penalties. Over all the design is to mostly let companies get away it as long its not too egregious. While allowing employees who enforce their rights, which is the lesser amount, to have some avenue of compensation after the fact.