How to use the Wage & Hour Q&A agent skill (wage-hour-qa)

What the skill makes the agent do

Once installed, the skill changes how the agent handles wage-and-hour questions. It first loads a jurisdictional footprint file, then identifies which state or country the question is about. If the jurisdiction is not stated, the agent is instructed to ask. It then researches the controlling rule rather than stating it from memory, because thresholds, exemption criteria and final-pay timing change often and vary by state.

The skill's answer is meant to include a citation for the controlling primary source (statute, regulation, wage order or case), the effective date, and a note on whether the rule has been recently amended or is in litigation. Where the agent cannot verify the current law, it is instructed to say so and flag the question for attorney verification.

Install the wage-hour-qa skill

Download the ZIP from the skill's page on this site. Then choose one of two routes.

For a personal install, unzip the file into ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, unzip it into the project's .claude/skills/ folder. Alternatively, if you use the Claude apps, upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project only: unzip into .claude/skills/ inside the project
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload

Set up the jurisdictional footprint file

The skill expects a claude-for-legal employment-legal CLAUDE.md file that describes your jurisdictional footprint, meaning the states or countries where your employees work. The skill loads it from ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/employment-legal/CLAUDE.md. If the question does not name a jurisdiction, the agent can use this file to decide which jurisdictions to research, or it can ask you.

Connect a legal research tool

The skill is built around a configured legal research tool such as Westlaw, CourtListener or a firm research platform. Web search is optional. If the research tool returns few or no results, the skill is designed to stop and report what it found rather than fill the gap from web search or model knowledge. It will then offer options, such as broadening the query, trying another tool, or running a web search whose results are tagged for verification.

Trigger the skill with natural requests

The skill description lists phrases that should activate it. You can ask in plain language, for example: what the rule is in a given state, whether a role is exempt, whether you must pay overtime for a specific situation, or whether you can classify a worker a certain way. You can also invoke it directly with /wage-hour-qa followed by your question, since the skill accepts a question as its argument.

• "What's the rule in California for meal breaks?"
• "Is this operations manager exempt?"
• "Do we have to pay overtime for hours worked at home?"
• "Can we classify this person as a contractor?"
• /wage-hour-qa [your question]

Read the answer and its source tags

Every citation in an answer is tagged by where it came from. Tags include [Westlaw], [CourtListener], the name of a connector tool, [web search — verify], [model knowledge — verify] and [user provided]. Citations tagged verify carry higher fabrication risk and should be checked against a primary source first. Do not remove these tags before sharing the answer.

For back-pay or unpaid-overtime calculations, the skill uses a scaffold based on the FLSA regular rate rather than a simple hourly wage times overtime hours. It asks you to state which pay posture you are assuming before it computes, and the answer should be checked by counsel.

Safety notes: scripts and network access

This skill does not run scripts. It does use the network, because its purpose is to query legal research tools and, optionally, the web. Review the research connectors you enable and the material you send to them, especially if it contains confidential employee information.

• Runs scripts: no
• Uses network: yes, for legal research and optional web search
• Matter files are written to a matter folder only when matter workspaces are enabled

Tips for better answers

State the state or country and the facts in the question, such as pay basis, hours, job duties and whether the worker was paid for overtime hours. The skill's own guidance is that close calls and shifting law need human judgment, so treat its output as a researched first draft to take to counsel.

• Name the jurisdiction in the question
• Include salary, duties and pay structure for exemption questions
• Say whether bonuses or commissions were paid for back-pay questions
• Check every [web search — verify] or [model knowledge — verify] citation before relying on it