Wage Law

All California employees have a right to seek compensation if their employers fail to comply with the California wage and hour laws. You should contact an experienced lawyer if your employer violates the wage and hour laws. A lawyer will help you determine the violation and guide you on the steps you should take. If you want the best wage lawyer to help you seek compensation in Los Angeles, contact The Workers' Compensation Lawyer Law Firm.

If You Suspect Your Employer Violates the Wages Law

What should you do if you suspect that your employer violates the wage and hour laws? You can take any of the following steps:

File a labor board complaint.
File a lawsuit against the employer in a California court.
Join a California wage/hour class action.

You should not fail to exercise your rights for fear of discrimination by your employer. California law is against any form of discrimination or retaliation against whistleblowers. The law also prohibits the termination of an employee who exercises their rights according to California's wage and hour laws.

Employees Covered by California Wage Law

The California wage and hour laws apply to all non-exempt workers within the state. Therefore, if you are a non-exempt employee, you are protected by the wage laws, including overtime and meal break laws. The wage laws may not apply to you if you are not an employee but an independent contractor. If you have a designation of "exempt employee" under California law, the wage laws won't apply to you.

Difference Between an Employee and an Independent Contractor

The California wage and hour laws won't protect you if you are an independent contractor because it only covers non-exempt employees. An employee is any person who offers a service to an employer unless the person works as an independent contractor. How does the law define an independent contractor? It's worth noting that just because your employer says that you are an independent contractor doesn't make you one.

Some employers label their employees as independent contractors to avoid responsibilities like paying payroll taxes. An employer may also label an employee as an independent contractor to avoid abiding by the minimum wage laws or overtime laws. The conventional definition of an independent contractor is an individual who offers a service under an agreement indicating that they will deliver a specified result for a specified payment. An independent contractor has full control over a task and how the promised result is achieved. Other factors apply under California law to help determine whether a particular person is an independent contractor or not. Other characteristics that distinguish an independent contractor from an employee are:

If the worker has a separate, distinct business or occupation.
The type of business or occupation the worker does.
The skill set level required for the particular occupation.
Whether the employer or the worker provides the necessary tools of work and the place of work.
The length of time it takes to complete the task in question.
Whether the worker is paid on a job-based or time-based basis.
Whether the work forms an integral part of the employer's business.
Whether the parties involved believe that they are in an employer-employee relationship.

If an employer hires you to complete a task in a week or another defined period at a specified pay, the employer doesn't owe you overtime even if you start to work overtime. This is because the facts suggest that you aren't an employee but an independent contractor.

Difference Between Exempt and Non-Exempt Employees

California wage and hour laws only apply to non-exempt employees but don't cover the exempt employees. The exempt employees under California law include professional, executive, and administrative employees. What conditions must an employee meet for them to qualify as an exempt employee?

The employee must spend more than half of the time spent at work engaging in managerial, intellectual, or creative work.
They must exercise independent judgment and discretion regularly when performing their work duties.
The employee's salary must be equivalent to at least twice the minimum wage for a California full-time worker.

A full-time worker is a person who spends at least forty hours per week in the workplace. Other categories of employees are also exempt from California's wage laws. They include:

Workers in the computer software field. These workers are highly skilled and must engage in creative or intellectual work requiring a high level of independent judgment and discretion.
Licensed surgeons or physicians who mainly engage in tasks or work requiring medical licensure
Teachers working in secondary schools or elementary schools provided they earn a minimum of the lowest salary offered to licensed teachers in a California's public school district, or 70% of the lowest compensation given to a teacher in the public school district where the teacher works whichever is greater.
Workers who earn more than 50% of their salary from the commission and their total payment is more than 1.5 times the minimum wage.

It is common for California employers to classify their employees as exempt employees. Doing so gives the employers a leeway to avoid providing breaks or paying overtime to their workers. For an employee, you must understand your rights. You should know that you aren't an exempt employee because your employer made you sign an agreement that states that you are an exempt employee. You are not an exempt employee just because you receive a salary instead of an hourly wage.

An Employee's Rights Under the California Wage and Hour Laws

What are your rights as a non-exempt employee under California wage law?

You Must Receive a Minimum Wage

All employees in California with a few exemptions are entitled to receive the minimum wage. An employer shouldn't pay a worker a salary that is below the set minimum wage. California's wage or hour laws set out the minimum hourly wages. As of January 1, 2021, the minimum wages in California were as follows:

Employers with 25 or fewer employees should pay their workers a minimum wage of $13 per hour.
Employers who have 26 or more employees should pay their workers a minimum wage of $14 per hour.

The minimum wage is set to keep rising until it gets to and is per hour by 2022. This minimum wage applies to California state and not the U.S in general. Different states have different minimum wages. Also, some cities and countries in California pay much higher hourly wages than the set minimum wages.

Overtime Payment

California's wage and hour laws also provide all non-exempt employees a right to overtime pay. The law prohibits employers from pressuring their workers to work round the clock while denying them overtime compensation. According to California law, overtime payment should be one and half times an employee's hourly pay. The overtime rate applies to any work that an employee performs above 40 hours in a workweek. If an employee works on the seventh day of the week, they are entitled to overtime pay for the first eight hours of work that they perform.

In some instances, California wage or hour laws require employers to pay their employees twice their hourly pay rate. An employer should pay a worker twice their pay rate for any time worked over 12 hours per workday. The double-time pay applies to any work that an employee does above 8 hours on the seventh day of a workweek.

The employer may avoid paying overtime to employees as long as they have an alternative workweek schedule. However, the workweek schedule must be approved by a minimum of 2/3 of all the workers involved. An employer may agree with employees that they will work for 10 hours for a workday without overtime pay within a 40-hour workweek. An employer shouldn't impose an alternative workweek schedule on unwilling employees. There should not be any form of force or coercion to make the employee accept the alternative workweek schedule.

Entitlement to Meal and Rest Breaks

The California wage or hour laws also state that all non-exempt employees have a right to meal and rest breaks. Any employer who fails to provide their workers with regular meals and rest breaks violates California's wage or hour laws. If an employee works for more than five hours in a workday, they are entitled to a meal break of at least thirty minutes. However, an employee may agree to waive the meal break as long as they don't work for more than six hours in a workday.

If an employee works for more than ten hours in a workday, they are entitled to a second 30-minute meal break. An employee may waive the second meal break provided they didn't waive the first meal break and won't work for more than 12 hours. For certain categories of employees, there are some exceptions to the meal break laws or requirements. Some employees' collective bargaining power has a different schedule for meal breaks. Different meal breaks may apply to unionized workers in the construction sector, security officers, commercial drivers, gas and electrical companies, and motion picture industries.

California Laws on Rest Breaks

According to the California wage or hour laws, employers also should provide rest breaks or rest periods to their non-exempt employees. A non-exempt employee should get a rest break of at least ten minutes for every four hours worked. However, if an employee's work shift is less than 3.5 hours, the employee isn't entitled to a rest break under the law. If an employee is on a rest break, the employer shouldn't assign any task to the employee. No employee should remain on call when they are on a rest break.

Off-the-Clock Work

An employer shouldn't illegally attempt to have an employee clock out but still have them perform work duties. No employee in California should work off the clock without compensation. What does working off the clock entail?

Pre-shift work
Post-shift work duties
Assigning administrative duties to workers
When an employee works during the rest or meal break
Having the employee take a lunch break while manning the front desk

If an employee does any work off the clock, the employer should compensate the employee for the work done at the regular hourly wage. If an employee performs off the clock duties and puts them above the maximum hours they should work for a day; the employer should give them overtime pay.

Taking Legal Action

You have a legal right to sue your employer under the California labor code if they fail to pay you the set minimum wage or the required overtime pay. You could also file a lawsuit if the employer fails to adhere to the meal and rest break laws in California. If you file a lawsuit against your employer due to their failure to pay you the minimum wage, you may be able to collect the following benefits:

Any unpaid or pending balance of the wage or overtime payment that your employer failed to pay you.
Any outstanding back wages and back pay.
Any interest in the pending payments.
Reasonable litigation and lawyer fees that you may have incurred while seeking compensation for the unpaid dues.

If your employer fails to provide you with a meal and a rest break as outlined by the law, you should get a one hour pay (at your regular pay rate) for every day that the employer failed to give you a meal or a rest break. You can't seek compensation for emotional distress when bringing a wage or hour lawsuit against your employer. You can only claim the emotional distress compensation while filing a wrongful termination lawsuit against your employer.

Suing Your Employer

You may file a lawsuit against your employer if they do any of the following:

Fail to give you overtime pay for any work you perform in excess of 8 hours per workday.
Fail to give overtime pay for any work that you perform in excess of 40 hours in a week.
When you don't receive overtime after working for six days consecutively.
Requires you to work off the clock.
Requiring you to work during an unpaid break.
Misclassify you as an exempt employee.
Misclassify you as an independent contractor.

When denied their rights by employers, many workers often wonder whether it's worth it to file a lawsuit against the employer to receive overtime pay. For instance, the employer may only owe you several hundred dollars. However, the good thing is that you are allowed to seek compensation for lawyer fees as well. You shouldn't fail to file a lawsuit just because the outstanding overtime amount is little.

You should hold your employer accountable for any violation of the wage and hour laws. An employer who denies an employee their rights could also be exploiting other employees. You should file the lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitation to avoid missing the compensation. The applicable statute of limitations for wage or hour cases in California is three years from the date of the recent latest violation.

If your employer’s overtime violation wasn't due to a good-faith error, you might be entitled to double compensation damages. Your employer can't fire you or discriminate against you for filing a wage or hour lawsuit against them. Discriminating against an employee for exercising their legal rights would attract further charges.

Filing a Labor Board Complaint

An employee may also file a labor board complaint if the employer violates the wage/hour laws. The employee reports the employer's violation to an agency that investigates the employment dispute and the employer's improper actions. There isn't a specific organization in California known as the labor board. However, several agencies hear and investigate employment grievances.

The two main state agencies that handle employment disputes in California are the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, commonly abbreviated as DFEH, and the Labor Commissioner's Office. These organizations handle all types of employee grievances, including employers' failure to pay the minimum wage, overtime, or failure to give employees meal and rest breaks. Most of the harassment and discrimination complaints revolve around employers treating their employees unfairly, mainly due to their gender, race, age, and religion. An employee may also choose to present their employment complaints/ grievances to California's Labor Commission or the U.S. Department of Labor.

Employees are not limited to presenting discrimination or harassment complaints to DFEH. They may also present these disputes to a civil court or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Most employees file retaliation or discrimination complaints after filing a wage/hour complaint. A worker may file a retaliation complaint if an employer or co-worker mistreats them because they raised a wage/hour law complaint. Under California and U.S. federal law, retaliation is illegal, and an employer shouldn't harass or discriminate against an employee for filing a labor complaint against them.

Discrimination can take place in many ways. The most common form of discrimination involves the employer treating individual employees differently as to:

Working conditions
Pay and earnings
Advancements and promotions
Work duties
Employment terms

Wage and Hour Class Action

When your employer violates the wage and hour laws, you have the option of joining a class action. In a wage /hour class action, you will join other workers whose rights under the California Labor Code have been violated. These workers come together to sue their employer through a class action with an experienced lawyer's help.

A wage/hour class action is advantageous because it allows employees who couldn't afford a skilled lawyer on their own to join other employees and file a common lawsuit. The additional advantage is that most employers, especially the large employees find class actions more threatening than wage/hour lawsuits. Therefore, the employer is more likely to agree to a settlement with a class action member than a single employee. A class action also saves employees the time and hassle of taking a wage and hour case to trial.

Requirements of a Wage/Hour Class Action

What are the requirements for a wage and hour class action in California? For a class action to be successful, there should be a:

A sufficient and ascertainable number of employees/plaintiffs to participate in the class action.
The class-action members should have a well-defined community of interest.
Significant benefits that make a class action more desirable than a wage/hour lawsuit

Of the three factors outlined above, the most important is the community of interest. A wage/hour class action in California is likely to be more successful if:

It has a large number of workers who faced wage/hour violations by a common employer.
The wage and hour violation was the same for all the workers.
The circumstances surrounding the wage and hour violations by the employer were the same for all employees.
Some of the employees whose situation is similar to that of other employees are willing to serve as class action representatives.

It would be appropriate to file a wage/hour class action if an employer classified many employees with a similar job title/description as exempt employees to avoid paying them overtime. A class action would also be ideal if an employer sees many employees work off the clock without compensating them. If a company fails to give all employees at a particular worksite meal and rest breaks, they may come together and file a class action against the employer.

When you consult your lawyer regarding a class action, the lawyer will advise you whether a similar class-action already exists. If a class action exists, you will just join the other employees. However, if no class action exists, your lawyer can help you establish a class action and take other employees with similar complaints onboard.

Find a Workers' Compensation Lawyer Near Me

Your employer violates California wage and hour laws by denying you the minimum wage, failing to pay overtime, and failing to give you meal and rest breaks. With the help of an experienced workers' compensation lawyer, you can file a lawsuit against the employer and seek compensation. The Workers Compensation Lawyer Law Firm can help you file a claim against your employer in Los Angeles. Contact us at 424-501-9228 and speak to one of our lawyers.