Though many people believe that employees enjoy little-to-no protection in California, or in the United States at-large. That is not necessarily a correct assessment of the legal dynamics surrounding the employer-employee relationship. California offers some of the strongest laws in the country when it comes to protecting workers from wage and hour claims.
The law in California grants certain payment-related rights to employees. If an employer violates those rights, then it may give rise to significant damages under a wage and hour claim.
Bringing a wage and hour claim against your employer isn’t as simple as you might initially believe. The facts surrounding the claim may be quite murky, which could complicate the proceedings. Further, you will need to consider all the factors that are likely to impact your overall strategy. If you are not paying overtime by your employer. But you would like to settle the claim without resorting to the lawsuit and further delaying a payout. Then your attorney could begin a conversation with your employer and offer legal authority to support your position. . Settlement negotiations could begin, and a potential compromise could reach early without the need for lengthy and exhausting litigation.
At Prestige Law Firm, we adopt a two-pronged approach to wage and hour claims. Though we believe it’s important to negotiate in a manner that communicates the possibility of a favorable early resolution. We are firm in expressing our willingness to take a case all the way through to trial, if necessary. This aggressive mentality allows us to exercise additional leverage during settlement talks. Forcing the employer to carefully consider a favorable compromise (lest they have to face us in court later).
Employees who subject to payment-related misconduct may entitle to bring either an individual action against their employer. Or to join a single, collective action alongside other eligible employees.
Collective actions are not like class actions. Where all employees with related claims would be automatically included as plaintiffs in the same “class” and therefore potentially benefit from the lawsuit. Instead, collective actions must be proactively joined by those employees who wish to litigate their wage and hour claims. Because collective actions are opt-in, it’s critical that those who have an actionable wage and hour claim consult an attorney as early as possible. So that they can evaluate the advantages of collective action and be properly joined before litigation proceeds.
There are a number of advantages to pursuing a collective action. Collective actions generally empower each individual plaintiff, giving them additional leverage during settlement negotiations. Further, collective actions tend to be less demanding on each individual plaintiff, as the weight of litigation does not rest entirely on any individual plaintiff’s shoulders.
Unfortunately, collective actions very often lead to protracted litigation, though. This can pose a significant disadvantage for wage and hour plaintiffs who would prefer to negotiate a settlement compromise quickly.
Unpaid overtime is a serious issue in California and elsewhere. Though it should come as no surprise that employers frequently engage in tactics intended to increase their profit margins by cutting into the overtime pay owed to their employees.
Overtime pay requires that an employer pay one-and-one-half times the standard hourly rate to the employee at issue. This can put a significant financial burden on employers. Unfortunately, rather than hiring additional workers and spreading the hourly burden across staff, many employers choose to take advantage of their existing crop of employees.
We often encounter two types of unpaid overtime claims: misclassification and hours-logging conflicts.
Managers and some other limited categories of employees qualify as “exempt” from the overtime scheme. Employers strategize around this exemption by defining some borderline employees as managers. This knows as misclassification, and it allows the employer to overwork the exempt employees without having to pay the higher overtime rate required by law.
Generally speaking, misclassification occurs when a significant portion of an employee’s job duties are non-managerial in nature.
For example, suppose that you are working at a busy gas station. You have get the job title of assistant manager and paid a salary. But you force to routinely work 60-hour weeks with the majority of your job duties. Involving low-level work such as washing cars, janitorial duties, and stocking shelves. If youhad not misclassify as an exempt employee, then you would pay 20 hours of bonus overtime every week.
Hours-logging misconduct is very common across industries. In situations where an employer cannot redefine an employee as “exempt,”. They may manage the hours of that non-exempt employee very closely to avoid having to pay overtime. This may involve under-the-table encouragement that the employee stops logging hours after they have completed their hours’ quota for the day/week.
Alternatively, the employer might not properly account for all hours actually worked. For example, if an employee routinely performs their job duties over their lunch break. And the employer does not log that time as worked hours, then that could lead to an overtime pay issue.
If you believe that you are getting less than minimum wage. Then you may have a right to sue and recover damages from your employer for the unpaid wages. As well as additional liquidated damages for the losses that you suffered due to all the time you spent being paid below a legally-defined “livable” wage.
This is all a bit confusing without further context, so let’s jump right intake a brief look at some minimum wage basics in California.
As of 2019, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and the California minimum wage is $11 per hour (for employers with 25 or fewer employees). And $12 per hour (for employers with 26 or more employees). It’s important to understand that the California minimum wage overrides the federal minimum wage. As such, if you are a California employee, then you will be subject to the higher minimum wage amount, not the lower amount.
There are, in fact, even higher minimum wages that may apply if you work in a municipality that has increased the baseline. In Los Angeles County, for example, large employers have to pay $13.25 per hour, and small employers have to pay at least $12 per hour. These higher minimum wage requirements override the state minimum and the federal minimum.
Despite the fact that workers in California may enjoy minimum wages close to double the federal minimum. It’s worth noting that many employees may not actually be subject to minimum wage protection.
We’d first like to highlight a group that does not typically receive minimum wage protection. But that actually does receive such protection in the state of California: tipped employees.
Unlike in most other states, tipped employees in California cannot be paid less than the minimum wage. Employers must pay their tipped employees the applicable minimum wage. which may come as a surprise to some. If you are a waiter and your employer is attempting to pay you less than the minimum wage on the assumption that you will make it up with tips. Then you may have an actionable wage and hour claim. Another issue that often arises in this context is employers who withhold tips and do not disburse the tips to the employees, as they should.
Independent contractors have become increasingly common as employers look to compartmentalize their workforce. And lower their tax burden, and maximize their profit margins further. Independent contractors are not subject to minimum wage protections, or various other protections, such as rest and meal breaks, or anti-retaliation protections. For example, if you are hiring as an independent contractor to paint something for a company, they do not have to pay you the minimum wage for the hours that you work.
The primary issue in claims revolving around independent contractors is misclassification. In their rush to define an employee as an independent contractor, an employer might have mistakenly classified you as an independent contractor. Proper classification as an independent contractor requires that the employer do the following:
Confusing? We can help you identify whether you truly qualify as an independent contractor, or whether your employer has misclassified you and might owe you damages for unpaid wages. If you believe that you have been improperly classified as an independent contractor, you may entitle to compensation.
Outside salespeople are not entitling to minimum wage protection under California law. Commissions expects to provide a livable wage in such cases.
Student employees (i.e., high school students, college interns) may be paid less than the minimum wage, but the employer does not have absolute discretion. California requires that an employer pay their student employees at least 85 percent of the applicable minimum wage.
Unpaid commissions are a serious problem for those working in sales positions where commissions form a substantial portion of their total wages. California law defines commissions as wages, and in fact refers to them as “commission wages.”
A commission wage has a strict definition, however. Simply put, a commission wage is a percentage of the price of a good/service that is sold by the worker. The act of selling is central to commission wages. If you are principally engaged in some other job duty relating to a good/service (i.e., maintenance, marketing, etc.), then you cannot count the percentage cut as a commission wage.
If your employer fails to pay you the owed commissions, such wages are recoverable in a lawsuit against them.
What we typically see in such disputes is that the employer will attempt to argue. That you (the salesperson) were not principally involving in selling the good/service at-issue. They might argue that your principal duties were not sales-oriented, but just customer facing in general. For example, if you work in a retail store. The employer may try to enhance their position by pointing out the fact that you handled customers at the cashier for a significant portion of your day. Or that you performed other duties, such as stocking the product that you eventually sold. This is yet another area in which good record keeping is crucial in order to protect your rights.
In California, retaliatory conduct in the employment context prohibits by law. Wrongful termination is one form of retaliation that an employer is likely to engage in following a wage and hour complaint/dispute.
Retaliation occurs when an employer takes an adverse employment action towards an employee. Who has engaged in a legallyprotecting activity? such as making a formal or informal complaint about their wages, or whistleblowing about the employer’s illegal conduct.
.If you’ve mistakenly terminate by your employer due to your complaints or other protecting conduct relating to their payment-related misconduct. Then you may have an independent retaliation claim. Unwanted termination based on retaliation claims can give rise to their own significant set of damages, so they are often worth pursuing.
The key to proving that you have been “wrongfully” terminating based on retaliation is. In establishing the causal link between your protecting activity and the employer’s termination of your employment.
For example, if your employer can show that your performance at work slumped well below the standard met by your colleagues. Then they could reasonably justify firing you, even if you made a wage and hour complaint earlier in the year. The court would likely not find that there is a clear link between your complaint and the employer’s decision to fire you. Unless you had explicit evidence of the causal link, such as email communications.
There are many intricacies and specific deadlines involves which must getting preserve prior to filing of a lawsuit for unlawful termination. As such, it is crucial that you contact an attorney as soon as you terminate.
California courts infrequently award punitive damages, and only when the defendant has demonstrated willful, malicious, and egregious conduct. Punitive damages multiply the baseline compensatory damages amount. In the wage and hour context, you may be able to secure punitive damages if you can show that your employer knew that their conduct was illegal. And that it was causing you to suffer, but they continued to engage in such misconduct anyway.
For example, suppose that your employer has withheld your wages for several weeks. They can pay you, but they are refusing to do so because you filed a formal complaint with the Department of Labor about their overtime practices. An employer knows that their conduct is illegal and that you will evict if you cannot pay your rent on time. Given such circumstances, a California court might choose to award punitive damages to punish the employer and discourage other employers from engaging in similar payment-related misconduct.
Often times, in their disputes with their employers, employees are at a disadvantage since the employer retains all the records. While the employee does not have a single record or witness concerning the events surrounding the dispute at issue. It is imperative that you engage in very specific record keeping. If you believe there is any reason that you might be involving in a dispute with your employer. Often times, when an employee terminates, their access to their work email is disabled. Screen shots of emails sent and received prior to the email having been disabled often prove to be valuable evidence.
If you’ve been subjected to wage and hour claims, then California law may give you a right of action against your employer for damages. Though your employer may enjoy significant power over you due to the fundamental dynamic in the workplace. In truth, they may be held liable for failing to pay your wages, or otherwise engaging in employment-related misconduct. You don’t have to resign yourself to the oppressive and illegal decisions of your employer.
We can help.
At Prestige Law Firm, our attorneys have decades of experience litigating a variety of employment disputes. From wage and hour claims to discrimination claims. Over the years, we have helped clients achieve substantial results.
We understand the unique challenges facing employees, as well as how a dispute can quickly escalate into something more significant than was initially anticipated. Generally speaking, employees are anxious about taking a stand against their employer. Though employees protects from retaliation under the law, they not be certain that their employer will refrain from such underhanded tactics.
Given the potential complications and anxieties of wage and hour litigation. We encourage you to contact a qualified Sherman Oaks employer lawyer at Prestige Law Firm as soon as possible. Our attorneys will evaluate your wage and hour claims and help guide you through the challenges of the litigation process effectively.
Call 818-788-0808 or send us a message online to schedule a free, confidential, and no-obligation consultation. Though we operate two offices in Southern California (Sherman Oaks and Palmdale), we represent many clients located in Northern California as well.
