Wage and Hour Firm

What Wage and Hour Firm does

Wage and Hour Firm is a Dallas, Texas-based boutique law firm founded in 2012 by Rick Prieto and Melinda Arbuckle, practicing exclusively on the plaintiff side of wage-and-hour and employment litigation. The firm represents employees in federal and state courts across six practice areas: minimum wage violations, unpaid overtime, off-the-clock work, meal and rest break violations, employee misclassification, and retaliation. The firm is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and founding partner Prieto is individually board certified in the same discipline. Recurring case-work spans individual and class action matters, including documented recoveries such as $569,669.58 in backpay for 28 sheriff's deputies (Cruz v. Maverick Cnty.) and a Fifth Circuit-affirmed summary judgment in Gentry v. Hamilton-Ryker IT Sols. (2023).

The firm operates on a pure contingency fee model, charging attorney fees only on successful recovery, which eliminates upfront cost barriers for workers and aligns firm incentives with client outcomes. Its go-to-market is direct-to-consumer and content-driven: a website with six practice-area education pages, a free online self-qualification quiz that pre-screens potential clients, and direct phone/text/email intake staffed by the firm. The firm describes a nationwide service scope despite a single Dallas office, with no disclosed institutional investors, private equity backing, or parent entity — ownership and control rest entirely with the two founding partners.

The foundation of the business is human expertise rather than technology. There is no proprietary software, no AI/ML tooling, no app, and no API integrations disclosed in the source material. Scale references ('hundreds of thousands of employees' represented) and industry references ($1.4 billion recovered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division in FY 2019–2020) are used to frame addressable market rather than firm-specific throughput. The competitive moat is built on partner credentials, specialized regulatory expertise, and a content-led digital intake funnel.

Name

Wage and Hour Firm

Legal name

Wage and Hour Firm

Website

https://wageandhourfirm.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Wage and Hour Firm is a Dallas-based plaintiff-side employment law boutique that exclusively represents employees in wage-and-hour litigation, including minimum wage, overtime, misclassification, and retaliation matters, on a contingency fee basis across six practice areas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wage and Hour Law Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Offices of Lawyers (54111)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Employment & Labor Law (BPAHAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Litigation & Dispute Resolution (BPAHAAAB)

Keywords

• Wage and hour law
• Employment litigation services
• FLSA legal representation
• Overtime violation attorney
• Employee misclassification law

Headquarters

HQ city

Dallas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Contingency Fee: The firm operates on a contingency fee basis, meaning clients pay no upfront fees. The firm receives compensation only if the case is won or settled successfully. This aligns the firm's incentives with clients and reduces financial barriers for employees seeking justice for wage theft.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The firm provides legal representation and litigation services exclusively for employees who have experienced wage and hour violations, covering minimum wage violations, unpaid overtime, off-the-clock work, meal and rest break denials, employee misclassification, and retaliation claims. Cases are handled on a contingency fee basis, meaning clients pay no attorney fees unless the firm wins or settles the case. The practice operates across state and federal courts nationwide, with Board Certified specialization in Labor and Employment Law.

Product overview

Wage and Hour Firm is a single-service law firm offering legal representation exclusively for wage and hour violations. The firm's core offering is its litigation and legal services practice, which comprises seven interconnected service modules: Minimum Wage Violations, Retaliation, Off The Clock Work, Unpaid Overtime, Meal and Rest Break, Employee Misclassification, and a Free Qualification Quiz. These services work together as a unified legal practice focused on protecting employee rights under federal and state labor laws, with clients able to access a qualification assessment and be guided through the entire legal process from case evaluation to receiving compensation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Recovered $569,669.58 in backpay for 28 sheriff's deputies in Cruz v. Maverick Cnty. (average recovery of $20,345.34 per plaintiff)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart: One of the largest labor and employment practices in the U.S., primarily defending employers in wage-and-hour and discrimination matters. Broad incumbent that operates on the opposing side of the same case types the firm handles.
• Fisher & Phillips: Largest U.S. law firm exclusively representing employers in labor and employment matters, including wage-and-hour class action defense. Functions as the typical opposing counsel in cases like those handled by Wage and Hour Firm.
• Seyfarth Shaw: National law firm with a sizable wage-and-hour practice, predominantly representing management. Comparable subject-matter expertise on the opposing side, indicating the market opportunity and competitive set Wage and Hour Firm operates in.
• Morgan & Morgan: Largest plaintiff firm in the U.S. with a broad employment practice that includes wage-and-hour class actions; competes for the same employee-side matters but as part of a much wider mass tort and consumer docket.

Direct peers

• Nichols Kaster: Boutique plaintiff employment and FLSA firm that has been a leading force in wage-and-hour class actions and individual overtime cases. Closely comparable niche focus, contingency model, and class action capacity to Wage and Hour Firm.
• Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw: California-based plaintiff employment firm known for statewide and nationwide wage-and-hour class actions on behalf of employees. Direct peer in FLSA collective actions and employee misclassification matters.
• Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein: Plaintiff firm with a substantial employment and wage-and-hour practice alongside its broader class action docket. Comparable as a contingency employee-side practice that pursues class and collective actions for unpaid wages.
• Outten & Golden: National plaintiff-side employment law firm representing employees in wage-and-hour, discrimination, and executive matters. Directly comparable to Wage and Hour Firm as a contingency-based employee-side employment practice with appellate and class action experience.
• Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky: Plaintiff-side employment law firm with deep FLSA and wage-and-hour class action experience, including class certification and appellate work. Comparable contingency model and case mix to Wage and Hour Firm.
• HKM Employment Attorneys: Boutique plaintiff employment law firm focused on wage-and-hour, discrimination, and whistleblower matters, frequently handling FLSA collective actions. Direct peer in niche, contingency-based employee-side practice.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks3 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wage-and-hour-firm

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wage and Hour Firm