WARNING: This is quite a long story but I and many other contractors are in desperate need of help

I work for a digital solutions company as a remote independent contractor. We signed an NDA so I can't really give out too many specific details about the company's identity. Any how, I and many other employees were incorrectly paid by said employer. The worked hours reflected on our payment information have huge discrepancies (in my case, its about $600 short but there are at least 10 other people who have reported missing payments). We have reached out to the company about this which was a huge pain as they have been purposely unresponsive. When they finally responded to what seemed like hundreds of emails/online forms/social media messages, they acknowledged the issue and admitted that it was a mistake on their end. They also sent an email promising that the missing payments will be added to the next payment cycle.

However, when the payment information for the next cycle was released the missing payments were NOT added at all. As you expect, we all again blasted the company with emails and messages for weeks. Desperately wanting an answer. We all waited patiently to get a single response. It has been weeks now and although the company gives us updates regarding the actual work that we do, they intently ignore all queries relating to payment issues. They even went as far as deleting some of the messages sent through social media.

Now, me and the other contractors are trying to explore which legal actions can be taken as we feel like we do not deserve this at all. We held our end of the bargain and should be paid as promised. Can anyone in here point us to the correct direction as far as legal actions? None of us are knowledgeable enough and honestly, we do not know what rights we have as independent contractors.

PS: We have to act fast as, oddly, some of my fellow contractors are getting axed out of nowhere. We want to at least be able to get what's ours before they shut us out completely.