Category: Unpaid Wages and Overtime

Know Your Rights Not To Be Underpaid Under California Tipping Laws If you are like many employees in California, you rely on tips as part of your income. Waitpersons, bartenders, bell hops, hotel housecleaning staff, food delivery drivers, and taxicab drivers are just a few of the professions where workers receive tips from customers as part of their…

Laws Protect Employees From Working “Off-The-Clock” Without Compensation California and federal laws prohibit employers from requiring employees to work “off the clock.” Off-the-clock work includes anything that falls within the legal definition of “work” where the employer fails to record the time worked and the employee is not compensated. Employers are liable to compensate for any off-the-clock…

Final Paychecks And Waiting Time Penalties If you quit your job, are fired, or laid off, California laws require your employer to promptly issue you a final paycheck that includes everything you are owed, including all wages, overtime, and accrued vacation and paid time off or “PTO.” If your employer fails to promptly issue a…

Makeup Time And Comp Time In California Makeup time and comp time, also called “compensating time off” give employees who are entitled to overtime (“non-exempt” employees) flexibility so that they can attend to personal matters without using vacation time, and under certain circumstances, allow employees to convert overtime compensation into paid time off. Makeup Time…

California Overtime Rules: Who Gets It And Who’s Exempt? Employees in California who are “non-exempt” are entitled to overtime pay for time worked over 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. This is true unless the employer has adopted an “alternative workweek” schedule in which employees work normal hours of 10 hours per day, 4 days…

What Are Wage And Hour Claims And How Do You Prove One? Wage and hour claims are probably the most common type of claim California employees make against their employer. They generally involve unpaid wages or overtime, but can also include other violations of the labor laws, including failure to provide meal and rest breaks and failure to provide pay…

Common Issues Involved In Wage And Hour Disputes Most people don’t expect to be involved in a wage and hour dispute with the company they work for. However, it’s not unusual for employers to violate wage and hour laws, especially for contract work or jobs that pay by the hour. If you feel that you’re…

How Do I Know If I’m An Employee Misclassified As An Independent Contractor? Employee misclassification has become an increasingly important issue in recent years, particularly with the growth of the service sector and the so-called “sharing economy.” Well publicized misclassification lawsuits have been filed against companies like Uber and Lyft. According to the California Labor Commissioner, at least ten…

Equal Pay For Equal Work: California’s Equal Pay Law According to official findings by the California Legislature, in 2014, the gender wage gap in California was $0.16 on the dollar. In other words, for every dollar a man earned, a woman earned only $0.84. The situation is far worse for women of color. For example,…