"I was owed for eight days," said Wilcoxon.

Wilcoxson was an admissions leader for a cosmetology school and had been there nearly a year.

"I was very distraught; I just felt like I was taken advantage of," said Wilcoxon.

After weighing her options, Wilcoxson went online and filed an unpaid wage claim with the Missouri Department of Labor.

"The only thing is, I wasn't going to receive my salary; I was going to be receiving minimum wage," said Wilcoxson.

That's because Missouri doesn't have a wage collection law, meaning the most the state can do is ask your former employer to pay you minimum wage for the hours you worked.

"So I was a little bit upset about that because it's quite a bit of difference of what I was making compared to what was receiving," said Wilcoxson.

In this economy, the number of Missouri's minimum wage complaints have spiked from 492 in 2007 to 689 in 2008. The Labor Board didn't have the figures for this year. As for Wilcoxson, she found another job in sales where she's receiving a steady paycheck.

"In the end, it all worked out for the best," said Wilcoxson.

If you choose not to make a claim with the Missouri Department of Labor, you can take your case to small claims court but only if the money in question is less than $3,000; anything over that requires private legal counsel.

The Department of Labor can't force your employer to pay you. However, if the Labor Board asks the employer to do so and it doesn't, you can sue the employer for twice the amount of money owed to you.