St. Louis Wage & Employee Rights Attorney
St. Louis depends on hourly and salaried work in hospitals, warehouses, restaurant kitchens, and the trucking routes that make the region a freight hub. On paper, it is also two separate places, because the City of St. Louis has been independent of St. Louis County since 1876.
Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show how differently households live on each side of that line. St. Louis County counted 1,004,125 residents in the 2020 Census, with a median household income of $81,340 and median gross rent of $1,164. The same census showed St. Louis City as having approximately 301,000 residents, with a median household income of $56,160 and a median gross rent of $997.
Those numbers leave many working families, particularly in the city, with little room for a short paycheck. A full-time worker earning Missouri’s $15.00 minimum wage makes about $2,600 a month before taxes. At that level, a few unpaid overtime hours each week, a meal break deducted while you kept working, or tips that never brought your pay up to the minimum can determine whether rent is paid on time.
At Simon Law Co., I help workers in St. Louis, St. Louis County, and nearby Illinois recover the wages they’ve earned. My office is in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and I meet with St. Louis-area clients through free virtual consultations.
St. Louis Wage & Employee Resources
Wage & Employee Rights Services I Offer
A wage problem usually starts with a paycheck that doesn’t match your schedule. I can help you compare what you were paid with what Missouri law, Illinois law, or the federal Fair Labor Standards Act may require for your job. I can help you identify whether you may have a claim and what pursuing it could involve. The primary types of employee wage and hour services I offer include the following:
Unpaid overtime: I pursue overtime for hourly and salaried workers who worked more than 40 hours in a week without receiving time-and-a-half, including workers whose employers averaged their hours across two-week pay periods.
Off-the-clock work: I handle claims for time your employer required or allowed but didn’t pay for, such as pre-shift duties, work during automatically deducted meal breaks, or travel between job sites during the workday.
Minimum wage violations: I help workers who are paid below Missouri’s $15.00 hourly minimum or the applicable federal or Illinois rate, including violations caused by improper deductions from pay.
Tipped worker violations: I represent servers, bartenders, and other tipped employees whose employers paid a reduced cash wage but didn’t ensure their total pay reached the full minimum wage.
Misclassification as an independent contractor: I evaluate claims from drivers, delivery workers, and others treated as contractors while the company controlled their schedules, routes, and methods of work.
Misclassification as exempt: I help salaried employees whose job titles sound managerial but whose actual duties may still entitle them to overtime pay.
Unreimbursed job expenses: I pursue claims when you paid for tools, uniforms, vehicle costs, or other work expenses that reduced your earnings below the wages owed.
Class and collective actions: When the same pay practice affects many coworkers, I can pursue claims on behalf of a group, as I have for restaurant servers and salespeople.
Many wage claims involve more than one issue, such as a misclassified worker who is also owed overtime. During your initial consultation, I can help you identify every way your pay may have fallen short, even if your situation doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories. I work on a contingency basis, so you won’t pay attorney’s fees unless you recover money.
Missouri’s Wage Regulations & Laws
Missouri changed its wage law recently. A $15.00 minimum wage took effect on January 1, 2026, after Governor Kehoe signed HB 567 on July 10, 2025. Under that bill, the rate will no longer rise each year with the Consumer Price Index.
For tipped workers, employers must pay at least $7.50 an hour plus whatever is needed to bring total pay up to $15.00 an hour. However, some employers are exempt from the state rule. Retail and service businesses with less than $500,000 in annual gross income are not required to pay the state minimum wage, but federal law may still apply. You can read the state’s current rules from the Missouri Division of Labor Standards.
Because both state and federal law may apply, I look at your situation under both Missouri law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. In some cases, I may be able to resolve your claim through negotiation or an agency complaint. You may also file in state court in the 21st Judicial Circuit in Clayton for St. Louis County, or in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in downtown St. Louis. I can help you determine which option best fits your situation.
What if You Work on One Side of the River and Live on the Other?
Many people in the St. Louis metro area live in Missouri and work in the Metro East, or the reverse. Illinois has its own minimum wage and wage payment laws. Generally, the state law that applies depends on where you perform your work. Federal protections apply in both states. At Simon Law Co., I also represent workers in Illinois, and I can review your claim even if it doesn’t fall neatly on one side of the state line.
Experienced Wage & Employee Rights Attorney Helping St. Louis, Missouri
At Simon Law Co., I help workers understand their rights through straightforward guidance and focused legal representation. For workers in St. Louis, Missouri, or nearby communities in Illinois, that means clear explanations of how Missouri’s 2026 wage changes, Illinois law, and federal protections affect your paychecks. It also means a direct assessment of whether your claim is worth pursuing.
If you think you’ve been shorted on overtime, tips, or minimum wage, contact my firm at (216) 483-6308 or online to schedule a free consultation.