While the Fair Labor Standards Act protects both minimum wages and overtime compensation, many states have filled in the gaps left under the FLSA with their own state wage laws. As an example, Wisconsin law demands payment of all wages earned by the employee within 31 days from the date the wages were earned. Wis. Stat. § 109.03(1). A wage is broadly defined by Wis. Stat. § 109.01(3) to include, in addition to salaries, commissions, holiday pay, severance pay, bonuses, and any similar advantage agreed upon between the employer and the employee. Wisconsin’s Court of Appeals recently concluded that there are two facets to a wage under Wisconsin law – 1) the employee must have at some time performed services that entitle him to a wage; and 2) the employee’s entitlement to the wage must be clear and already determined by either an agreement or the employer’s policy. Sliwinski v. City of Milwaukee, 2009 WI App 162, P17 (Wis. Ct. App. 2009) (petition for review is denied).
In doing so, the Court of Appeals has rejected the often argued claim that an employee is not due wages unless the employee actually performs work. The Court of Appeals correctly found that as long as the employee has performed work at some point, he or she is entitled to remuneration while sick, on vacation, laid off or even after dismissal. In affirming that one of the purposes of Wis. Stat. ch. 109 is to assure prompt payment of wages, the Court of Appeals found that the plaintiff’s statutory post-discharge pay was a wage despite the fact that the employee did not perform services for the city during the period of time at issue.
