Once a complaint affidavit has been received, a complaint file is opened and an investigative analyst is assigned.

If the complaint criteria is met, a formal notification of the complaint, including a copy of the Wage Theft Complaint Affidavit, will be sent to the respondent employer via certified mail. The employer must respond to the claim within 20 days of receipt.

If the formal notification sent via certified mail is undeliverable or unclaimed, the case cannot proceed. You can contact your local police department or obtain a certified process server to attempt delivery (also known as "service of process") of the formal notification and copy of the complaint affidavit.

Conciliation



In most instances, once the formal notification is received by the business, they will contact the analyst (also a certified mediator) assigned to the case to discuss our process and the content of the complaint. At this point our process requires that we encourage both parties to attempt to conciliate a resolution to the claim

The business may request additional time to respond to the allegations in the complaint.



Conciliation is an alternative out-of-court dispute resolution option. It allows parties to decide how to proceed, can be done over the telephone, through the exchange of documents electronically or a face-to-face session can be scheduled at the Consumer Protection Mediation Center. Parties are able to resolve their dispute and they may decide to enter into a conciliation agreement to formalize the terms. In the event that no agreement is achieved, nothing said or done in the course of conciliation may be used in any subsequent proceeding under the Ordinance without the parties' consent.