The laws that govern wage and hour violations in California are extensive – if your rights have been violated by your employer, you may be eligible for compensation, including back pay. Negligent employers have a lot to gain by taking advantage of their workers. For most companies, labor costs are the biggest expense. Many workers may not fully understand their rights and may not recognize labor code violations when they occur. This reality can incentivize negligent employers to commit a myriad of violations, such as failure to pay overtime, failure to compensate for all hours worked, and more. Victims of labor code violations may feel that they must either accept these unlawful practices or look for another job. Our Los Angeles employment class action lawyers believe these violations should not be tolerated and that employers should be held accountable for taking advantage of their employees. Everyone deserves to be paid fairly for their work, and no one should have to quit a job they rely on due to the strain of labor code violations.
When a company adopts a labor code violation, such as on-call breaks, as official policy, it creates a system in which labor violations are committed routinely. These violations can add up quickly and lead to significant compensation for employees. Our commitment is to hold these employers accountable and ensure workers receive the justice they deserve. Contact our Los Angeles employment class action lawyers today to see if your claim may qualify you for financial compensation.
What counts as a labor code violation in California?
California labor laws are worker-friendly – workers can rely on a wide range of protections from negligent employers. Our team of employment class action lawyers has been effective advocates for numerous California workers facing instances of illegal:
- Unpaid work. This violation often arises when shift lengths are inaccurately predetermined. For example, a delivery driver may end up working 9 hours to complete all required deliveries despite only being scheduled for 8 hours. The driver must still be paid for this work. Alternatively, any required pre-shift work must also be compensated.
- On-call breaks. Any time spent under the control of an employer must be compensated. If an employee is required to be on-call during a break, they are on the clock and must be compensated. This often arises in security officer jobs.
- Failure to reimburse phone bills and/or gas. All required use of personal cars or phones must be appropriately reimbursed.
- Discrimination. If you have experienced workplace discrimination, you are likely eligible for compensation.
- Late payment. California law states that employers owe workers up to 30 days’ wages for lengthy delays in wage fulfillment.
- Failure to keep accurate records. Employers can be fined for any inaccuracies in record keeping including inaccurate records of breaks and hours worked. Most wage and hour violations result in record-keeping fines as they inherit inaccurate records.
- Minimum wage violations. All unpaid work is a minimum wage violation. Furthermore, paying under minimum wage, which is $16 per hour as of 2024 in California, is a violation.
- Failure to pay overtime wages. The rules are clear – for hourly, non-exempt employees, any hours worked past 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a 7-day period must be paid at overtime rates. Further overtime rates apply past 12 hours worked. Employers often wrongly interpret that employees are not owed overtime pay when they work more than 8 hours in a day until they have worked 40 hours in a week. Agriculture workers in California are eligible for overtime.
- Failure to provide meal breaks. As a general rule, an employer must provide an employee an off-duty, uninterrupted 30-minute meal period no later than the end of the employee’s fifth hour of work, and a second meal period must be provided before the end of the employee’s 10th hour of work.
- Failure to provide rest breaks. As a general rule, for shifts of 3.5 hours or more, an employer must authorize and permit uninterrupted 10-minute rest breaks for every four hours worked or “major fraction” thereof.
In many ways, the rules for employers are simple. Nevertheless, a high number of employers routinely violate one or more of these laws. Holding a negligent employer accountable without an employment class action attorney by your side can be highly difficult – contact us today to learn how we can help.
How can I sue my employer?
When an employer is routinely violating the above labor codes, it is likely violating the rights of every employee within the company. This often means that you can sue your employer through a class action lawsuit – a type of lawsuit that will seek reimbursement for both you and every member of your team.
A class action lawsuit allows one or a few people to represent a larger group of plaintiffs if they all share the same damages from the same cause. Class action lawsuits are an extremely common means of holding negligent employers accountable and enforcing employment laws. Our team of employment class action attorneys is proud to bring over 300 years of combined experience holding bad employers accountable through class action lawsuits.
To a negligent employer, an individual employee who is identifying labor code violations can be easy to disregard – one person’s claim alone most often represents only limited liability. When that employee pursues a class action lawsuit, however, this dynamic is transformed. As a class representative, you have the opportunity to hold your employer accountable on behalf of both yourself and your coworkers. At this scale, your claim can give rise to millions of dollars in back pay and other financial compensation. Contact us today for a free case evaluation and to learn more.
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