Wage and Hour Attorney 

Payment for hours worked is the foundation of what the employee – employer relationship is built upon. As required by the Federal Law and California Labor Code, all employees are entitled to be fairly and fully compensated for their services. Nevertheless, more often than not a magnitude number of employers violate these wage and hour laws out of ignorance or greed. If your employer has carried out labor law violations regarding money owed to you for time spent on the workplace, Law Mart can assist you in enforcing your rights with an experienced wage and hour attorney. We offer a free consultation for your wage and hour disputes, and we help our clients stand up for their rights to obtain their just compensation. We are employee advocates who work hard to ensure that employers are held accountable for their misconduct.

How Law Mart Wage and Hour Attorney Can Help

At Law Mart, our wage and hour attorney knows the damaging effect that wage and hour violations have on workers. Such unlawful acts are done to either illegally increase its profits at the expense of its employees or cut corners to save money.  With our wage and hour lawyers, we can ensure that we will exhaust all options to recover your lost wages and other compensation, assisting you in enforcing your rights and what is just. Once you are ready to take action, give us a call at (310) 894-6440 to get a free consultation.

 Common Examples of Wage and Hour Violations

Wage and hour violations can happen in different courses of action. These occurrences are generally the result of a lack of knowledge of what the rules are for both the employer and the employee. Employment law can be very complex and being aware of what is right and what is not can help in determining what legal step to make.

Below is a list of the common examples of wage and hour violations that employees should be aware of, these are:

• Unpaid worked hours and overtime pay
• Failure to provide the correct rate of payment for worked hours and overtime
• Interdict overtime but providing too much work to complete in a full workday
• Pressuring employees to work as “on-call” without pay
• Forcing employees to work “off the clock”
• Modifying employee’s hours without permission
• Failure to pay minimum wage
• Failure to pay employees for preparation time
• Dispossess employees with legal rest and meal breaks
• Repudiate employees a copy of their legal paychecks
• Nonpayment of outstanding wages upon termination of employment
• Non-remittance of work-related expenses that the employee paid
• Failure to compensate for mileage and travel time that occurred while on the clock
• Holding back payment of bonuses, benefits, commissions, tips, etc.
• Wrongly categorizing employees as independent contractors or as exempt employees

How to File a Loss Wage and Hour Claim

There are multiple wage and hour violations laws that both the state and federal laws enforce to protect employees from unlawful acts by their employers. Nevertheless, for these laws to serve their purpose, the employee should take the first step and that would either be:

• File a lawsuit in court
• File a wage claim with a federal agency
• File a wage claim with California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE)

Where and how you file your claim has a significant effect on the amount of your case and how soon it can get resolved. Having a trustworthy wage and hour lawyer who is highly experienced in the procedures of filing is your best course of action. Thereby, you are ensuring the highest possible success of your claim.

Wage and Hour Claim Class Action Lawsuit

Class action lawsuits are considered common in wage and hour litigation. A considerable number of class and collective action lawsuits most often started as the result of disputes by one or a handful of employees on behalf of a larger number of employees. While the matter in a class action lawsuit can be large, there are mainly two (2) elements that are always present in every class action:

• The matters in dispute are common to all staff or employees
• The employees pretentious are so many as to make it infeasible to bring them all before the court

Here are some examples of class action that relate to wage and hour cases entail:

• Employees who have unpaid wages and benefits owed to them by their employer
• Employees who did not receive their severance pay at the time of termination
• Employees who were wrongfully classified as independent contractors

In particular such as these, the class action lawsuits that conduct the legal rights of all the employees wronged by the same employer are a lot more successful than individual lawsuits and a more potent way to punish the employer for their misconduct.

 Wage and Hour Laws in California

Wage and hour laws are established by the primary guidelines for the employee’s pay and time worked, which cover the matters like:

• Minimum wage pay
• Overtime pay
• Benefits and bonuses
• Meal and rest breaks
• What services count as time worked
• When the employee must be paid for his/her services
• Taskwork and labor that the employer must pay, and so on.

The FLSA- Fair Labor Standards Act along with several California state laws carry out the rights of employees to equal wages and working conditions. The FLSA states that the minimum wage for non-exempt workers is $7.25 per hour but in the state of California, employees working at a company with a staff of 25 or less get $14 per hour, while 26 or more get $15 per hour. Furthermore, in some cities like Los Angeles or Beverly Hills, the minimum wage is even higher. Employers who contravene and completely disregard these laws and the rights of the employees will be held responsible and penalized for their unlawful acts.

Employers Are Required to Pay Employees for All Hours Worked

Hours worked by the employee are services they have provided to fulfill the work tasks. This requires not only the regular tasks during the regular shift but as well as any further time spent by the employee on any of the following undertakings the following:

• On-Call Time or Waiting Time: Once the employee is within the premises of their employment, they are considered to be working. It does not matter if the employee is waiting to be engaged or simply on-call, it is still regarded as hours worked and must be paid accordingly. The same goes for employees who are required to work off the premises but are on-call or in waiting time. Such as a truck driver sitting in a nearby shade while waiting for the goods to be loaded.
• Training Time: California law requires employers to pay any work-related expenses, which includes training expenses for nonexempt employees. The hours rendered by the employee during training must be compensated at the standard hourly rate, and any extra hours beyond 40 in a workweek must be paid in accordance with the overtime laws.
• Preparation Time: This involves employees being required to put on protective gear or set up equipment before working their shift. The time spent on these tasks must be paid even though they are considered to be done before the shift.
• Travel Time:  This pertains to any commute or travel made by the employee that is related to their work task, such as an employee running an errand in sending out documents to another work site per the employer’s instructions. Such travel time made by the employee must be compensated accordingly. It is important to note that commute time to and from work is not included in work related travel time.

What is The Minimum Wage Requirements?

As the times passed and the economy excessively changed and the prices of materials have increased, in turn, the need to increase the minimum wage of employees has also increased. The federal government together with the state of California has set a minimum wage that the employers are required to pay to each of their workers. As seen in the graph below, since 2017 California’s minimum wage has moderately increased annually.

Almost all employees in California are to be paid the minimum wage as required by the state law, apart from the employees who are contemplated exempt from the minimum wage law, such as an outside 1099  salesperson, the employer’s parent, spouse, or offspring of the employer, and some apprentices. Giving a lower pay than that of the required minimum wage is considered illegal and can be penalized based on the California Labor Code 1197 of the California Labor Commission laws.

Overtime Pay Requirements

Governed by California law, overtime pay is based on the employees’ regular rate of compensation multiplied by 1.5 times for any time worked more than 8 hours in a day and double time for hours over 12 hours worked in a day. As an example, the employee works on an hourly basis and the regular rate of pay is $15.00 per hour, overtime pay would be $22.50 at a time and one-half ($15 + $7.50) and $30.00 at double time ($15 x 2). Time and half wages also apply to hours that exceed 40 hours in a week. Even if an employee fails to reach 40 hours in a week, if any of their shifts exceeded an 8-hour workday, they are entitled to overtime. Additionally, any hours worked on the 7th consecutive day is also paid at a rate of time and a half.

Are You Exempt from Overtime?

Following California law, employees who are contemplated exempt from overtime belong to the categories stated below and who earn an annual salary rather than an hourly wage. Employees regarded as exempted are:

• Executive employees
• Administrative employees
• Licensed professionals
• Computer software employees
• Outside sales employees
• Government employees
• Entertainment industry employees (actors and actresses)
• Employees in the field of intellectual, managerial, and creative

At your workplace it’s important to know that an employee can only be classified as an exempt employee if the work obligations meet the legal description under the California Labor Code. Or else, the employer cannot mislabel an employee as exempt simply by having the employee sign a contract stating that he/she agrees to be exempted or by paying the employee on a salary basis instead of on an hourly rate.

Employees vs. Independent Contractors

The differences between an employee and an independent contractor should be comprehensible and not be taken lightly since mislabeling a worker’s category would create a possible liability for employment taxes and penalties, and many legal responsibilities owed to an employee such as wage and hour requirements.

The distinction between an employee and an independent contractor is broken down below:

Employee or W-2

• Gets paid a regular wage 
• Receives employee benefits, severance, workers compensation, etc.
• Has their taxes withheld from their wages
• Work schedule is dictated by the employer

Independent Contractor or 1099

• Gets paid per project or work done
• Does not receive any mandatory benefits given by the employer as required by the law
• Pays their own taxes and is considered self-employed
• They work when and where they want to work

What Are The Pay Requirements for Employees Paid by Commissions and Bonuses?

Commissions and bonuses are considered a form of salary or compensation under California law Labor Code Section 200. If an employee is paid through commission, the salary would be the earnings of the employee based on the percentage of the sale price of the product or service provided by the employee. An employee who is paid on a commission basis must have a written agreement or contract with the employer that discloses how the commission will be calculated and paid. For instance, if the employee’s commission is constructed on customer sales, the agreement might state that commissions are received when the payment is earned from the customer, and either the percentage of your commission would be from the total purchase price or the net profit, and the like.

Another arrangement of salary or compensation is a bonus. Employee bonuses are either in the form of discretionary or non-discretionary. 

Discretionary bonuses. This is compensation paid in the form of gifts and rewards during the holidays and special occasions by the employer to the employee for their good service. This type of bonus is not determined by the employee’s work performance to evaluate if it should be given, take as an example the yearly Christmas bonus which is given to each employee. 

Non-discretionary bonuses. This is compensation earned by the employee and is given based on work performance policy, employment contract, and employer’s obligation. Non-discretionary bonuses are wages under California law and are due on scheduled pay dates as determined by employment contracts. If either commissions or non-discretionary bonuses are withheld, an employer is in violation of wage and hour laws and should be held liable for payment.

What Are The Pay Requirements for Employees Paid by Piece Rate?

Employees compensated by piece rate are paid in a fixed amount for each project or unit produced or job done. The piece rate wage payment system is used in many different industries, such as truck driving, manufacturing, agricultural work, cleaning services, craftwork, and so on. Setting aside the output, all employees paid by piece rate must still earn at least a minimum wage for each pay period. They must also be paid separately for their time performing the work that does not earn piece-rate wages, like cleaning, waiting for orders, procuring parts, and so on with no less than the minimum wage.

What Are The Pay Requirements for Tips & Gratuities?

Employees who receive tips or gratuities apart from their regular compensation have the right to keep any earned tips. Under California law, employers may not to do the following:

• Regulate or take any amount from the tips
• Deduct tips from the employee’s regular wages
• Require the employee to share tips with owners, managers, or supervisors

Any employer who commits the unlawful acts stated above can be charged with a misdemeanor that may lead to being sent to jail for 6 months and/or a fine of up to $1,000.

Tips and gratuities are any monetary value that is given to the employee by the customer and is excluded from the payment for the goods or services that the customer has purchased.

What Are The Pay Requirements for Meal and Rest Breaks?

Under California law the employer is required to provide meal and rest breaks and to pay for some of this time. For meal breaks, employees get an unpaid 30-minute meal break if he/she has worked for five hours and another 30-minute meal break if they have worked for 10 hours. If the field of work prevents the employee from taking a break from all work tasks, the employee may be granted an on-duty meal period and be paid by the employer for this time.

For rest breaks, employees get a paid 10-minute rest break every 4 hours of work. If the nature of work permits, these rest breaks should be taken in the middle of the work period. Since rest breaks are counted as time worked and paid, employers can require that the break be taken on the work premises.

In abidance with California law, if an employer has failed to provide the employee with adequate meal and rest breaks, the employer has to pay for an additional hour of work at the employee’s regular rate of pay for each denied break.

Rounding Hours Can Be Unlawful

California employers are in need of to pay their non-exempt employees for all hours worked and to provide regular wage statements that precisely indicate the total hours worked by the employee. Nevertheless, a disagreement between the employer and the employee on how the hours are calculated, such as rounding hours, is an ordinary problem employers are guilty of. Rounding hours is a practice where the employee’s working hours are altered to the nearest increment of a certain amount, usually starting or stopping time to the nearest 5 minutes or a quarter of an hour. Rounding hours could be illegal if the employer frequently rounds the employee’s time down rather than up, and the result would be a decrease in hours causing a loss of pay.

Employers Must Reimburse Employees for Work-Related Expenses

In accordance with the California Labor Code Section 2802, employers are required to reimburse all the requisite expenses incurred by the employee in connection to their work duties. Failure to reimburse may result in a wage and hour lawsuit.

Work-related expenses that are recognized for reimbursement include

• Travel expenses including driving costs while working and mileage reimbursement
• Usage of personal mobile for business transactions
• Conference fees and registrations
• Charge of tailoring a work uniform
• Cost in related to entertaining business associates or business deals/meetings
• Shipping cost in delivering documents, goods, etc.
• Training expenses

Employers Must Provide a Pay Stub

California employers are required to provide their employees a wage statement or most known as a pay stub. Pay period regulations require that the pay stubs be given either semi-monthly or at the time of each payday. In each pay stub of the employee, the following information must be itemized:

• Total earnings before tax
• Total worked hours within the pay period, including overtime
• Total deductions which include taxes, social security, disability insurance or health insurance, unfiled absence or leave, and so on
• After-tax income earned within the pay period
• The onset and end of the pay period
• The full name and address of the employer or the company that the employee works for

If the employer leaves out any certain information or the pay stubs indicates incorrect computation and primary details, they may be in violation of the California labor laws and can be penalized.

Employers Must Pay All Wages Due at the End of Employment

According to California Labor Code Section 201-203, prompt payment of all wages due at the end of employment, regardless of the reason for termination is mandatory. For employees who will be resigning, the final paycheck must be given within 72 hours upon submission of their notice of resignation. For employees who are laid off, the final paycheck must be given on the same day of the termination.

If the employer has intentionally failed to pay all due wages to a terminated employee in the established time frame, regardless of the reason for termination, a waiting time penalty may be imposed which will be equivalent to the employee’s daily rate of pay for each day the final check remains unpaid up to a maximum of 30 days.

Compensation for Wage and Hour Violations

Dealing with an unlawful employer who has violated your rightful wage and hour compensation can be a stressful battle to win over. You may find comfort and assurance in filing a lawsuit with a trusted and experienced wage and hour attorney at Law Mart, who can help you recover:

• All wages owed to you by your employer based on the minimum wage rate, overtime pay, unpaid commissions, and so on that apply to your situation
• Penalties on the wages that were wrongfully held back by your employer
• Attorney fees, court fees, and litigation costs

Contact a Wage and Hour Attorney at Law Mart 

Having a trusted and well-experienced wage and hour attorney will enhance your chances of recovering the compensation that you lost from your unlawful employer. Law Mart has a well-proven track record that shows just that and our commitment to helping our clients. Give us a call today for a free consultation at (310) 597-2998 or message us online to schedule a free consultation.

Absolutely No Fee Unless We Win Your Case

Through our wealth of experience, we understand that the main reason why victims of accidents or of unjust treatment by employers are hesitant to file cases or claim damages against the parties at fault, and this is because of the high legal fees.

In order to resolve this matter and help more people get the best compensation they deserve against the people who caused their injuries, pain and suffering and losses, we decided to offer a No Win No Fee guarantee to all our clients. This means that you don’t have to pay us anything for our top legal services, regardless of the complexities of your claims, if we are not able to provide you with the justice you deserve.

We offer this because we are confident that our experience, expertise and dedication will always translate in getting the maximum compensation you deserve at the swiftest possible time. Call our top personal injury attorneys right away for your personal injury accidents or our best employment and labor law attorneys in California for any employee related concerns and we’ll assure you of nothing but the best legal service and personalized client care you deserve.

We Are Here For You 24/7

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The faster you speak to an Employment Litigation Attorney the better. Waiting too long to file Employment cases can complicate your case. Make it easy on yourself. Call us to talk with an experienced employment lawyer right away. Your call is confidential, and you’re FREE CONSULTATION with one of our employment litigation attorneys at (310) 894-6440.