Wage & Hour Claims

California Lawyers Protecting Your Rights

Does your employer owe you unpaid wages? Are you not being paid for overtime? Are you fighting for the wages you are entitled to receive? It’s often hard for employees to know if their rights have been violated without the guidance of an experienced attorney. When employers violate wage and hour laws, and employees don’t know their rights they are not able to protect themselves and are most likely missing out on pay that they are entitled to. Some employers are known to cut corners to save money, and unfortunately, one of the most common ways they do this is by withholding payment from their employees. Though federal and state laws are put in place to prevent workers from being exploited by their bosses, they’re violated all the time. If you’re being compelled to work off the clock or have been kept from taking your necessary rest or meal breaks, you might have a potential wage and hour dispute.

If you believe you have been the victim of a California wage and hour law violation, contact a knowledgeable California wage lawyer at Workers’ Advocate Law Group as soon as possible to discuss your rights.

Our Law office has handled employment-related legal issues for years, and our group has potential answers for even the most intricate issues. We can assist you with deciding if your manager has abused work laws and can make a move from that point to get the equity you deserve. Contact our firm online to schedule your free consultation in English or Spanish today. Our team will be more than happy to assist you accordingly.

Common Types of Wage & Hour Disputes

California law is known for being more generous than federal law when it comes to wage and hour protections. This means that you’re already in a better situation than many workers in other states. In addition to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), you’re also protected by the California Labor Code sec. 500-558, which covers topics such as minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and severance pay.

These are some of the most common wage and hour disputes:

• Failure to pay minimum wage
• Failure to pay wages upon termination
• Failing to track or pay overtime wages
• Failing to follow the rules on final paychecks
• Failure to pay employees overtime
• Failure to pay tips and sales commissions
• Failing to fully relieve employees of work duties during breaks
• Forcing employees to work off the clock
• Misclassifying employees as independent contractors
• Paycheck deductions (illegal)
• Employee misclassification
• Unpaid vacation hours
• Misclassifying regular hourly (non-exempt) employees as “exempt” employees
• Injury sustained during an accident on the job

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has penalties for businesses who won’t pay what is due to their employees, this means that you as an employee reserve the privilege to be appropriately compensated for the hours that you work.

How Long Do I Have to File a Claim?

If you have worked over 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week and believe you have not been fairly compensated, you may be entitled to take legal action to receive your overtime pay.

There is always a deadline when it comes to filing wage and hour dispute claims. For most wage violations, including meal and rest break violations and overtime violations, you have three years from the date of the violation to file a claim in California. In some cases, you might have four or even two years to file a claim, which is why it’s vital that you hire a lawyer that understands the state’s system and filing deadlines.

Please keep in mind that some of the information that you should collect and hold onto to show our lawyers includes:

• Time records that show how many hours you worked.
• Paystubs.
• Bounced checks.
• Any written communication from your employer.

The sooner you have this information for us, the sooner we can begin on your claim.

As an employee, there are other penalties you can also collect from your employer for violations under California law. For example:

• Missed meal and rest breaks: Any workday in which you were not given a meal or rest break should be compensated by the employer.
• Wage statement violations: If your employer neglected providing information to you like your hourly rate or hours worked on your stub, your employer must pay $50 for the first violation and $100 for each subsequent violation up to $4,000 maximum.
• Failure to give paycheck after termination: If your final paycheck came late or didn’t include all of your wages after you were fired, you’re entitled to a full day of wages at your regular rate for every day your employer is late, up to a maximum of 30 days.

Our lawyers have handled countless wage and hour claims for clients before and can make sure your employer is held responsible for any and all violations. We’re knowledgeable about our state and federal laws and can protect you from retaliation, so you don’t have to worry about suffering any more than you have under your employer.

File your wage and hour claim today and schedule your free consultation in English or Spanish today. Count on an experienced wage and hour lawyer from Workers’ Advocate Law Group who has extensive experience in fighting for their clients’ employment rights.