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Unpaid Overtime Wages Attorneys Beverly Hills & Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Wage and hour violations are extremely common, and often times the employer or the employee does not even realize that they are being committed. Wage and hour violations include, but are not limited to, unpaid wages; violations of California minimum wage laws; non-compensation or denial of regular meal and rest breaks; illegal wage deductions and payroll errors; late payment of wages; denial of reimbursement for work-related expenses; failure to provide wage statements; failure to pay wages upon termination; and misclassification.
Among the very many relevant state laws, the primary state laws that protect employees from wage and hour violations in California are the various Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders that are codified in the relevant California Labor Code sections, the new Fair Wage Act of 2016, codified in the California Labor Code starting with Section 1182.12, and the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (as amended) (PAGA), codified in the California Labor Code starting with Section 2698.
If you are an employee, and you can demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence (the legal standard in civil cases) that your employer has committed any of the violations listed above with regards to wage and hour, and that you suffered damages as a result of such violation, you likely have a claim for wage and hour violation under the relevant Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders, the new Fair Wage Act of 2016, PAGA, and the relevant California Labor Code sections.
The primary federal law that protects employees from wage and hour violations in California is the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (as amended) (FLSA), codified in Chapter 29 of the United States Constitution starting with Section 201.
The FLSA and the relevant state laws on wage and hour are very similar; however, there are some material differences. For one, under the FLSA, employers are required to pay overtime compensation only to employees who work more than 40 hours in a single workweek. Under the California Labor Code, employers are also required to pay overtime to employees who work more than 8 hours in a single workday, and when employees work on seven consecutive days in the same workweek.
Another very important disparity is with the different minimum wage rates. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour; whereas, in California, the minimum wage is set at $10 per hour.
Unpaid Regular And Overtime Wages In Beverly Hills & Rancho Cucamonga
The attorneys at Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. regularly file claims on behalf of single employees and groups of employees for unpaid regular and overtime wages. There are laws at the local, state and federal level that govern regular and overtime pay, but generally speaking the local and state laws in California are more protective of employee wages than the federal laws.
If you believe you were not paid all regular or overtime wages that you are owed, you should contact our firm to request a consultation so that we can help you analyze what you are owed and how best to recover the money.
Unpaid Vacation Pay In Beverly Hills & Rancho Cucamonga
While unusual, sometimes an employer will grant accrued vacation pay but not pay out any accrued but unused vacation pay to an employee when the employee stops working for the employer. While California does not require that employers give vacation or vacation pay, if an employer chooses to grant and allow employees to accrue vacation time, then when an employee separates from employment he or she is entitled to be paid out any left over vacation.
Vacation pay cases can be somewhat complicated, and typically we recommend that you consult an attorney to work with you to determine if you have been paid out your vacation pay. Usually this will require a review of the applicable wage statements, accrued hours and other related information.
Now that a household income in excess of $100,000 is not enough to keep you from living paycheck to paycheck, most adults who are healthy enough to do so work constantly. No sooner does one long day of work end than another begins, but the paychecks you get from your various jobs and gigs motivate you to keep going as you make progress toward your financial goals.
California is one of the most worker-friendly states, not only with regard to its minimum wage laws and its family and medical leave policies, but also with regard to its overtime pay laws. Employees who receive an hourly wage have the right to a higher pay rate not only for unusually long workdays but also for unusually busy work weeks.
In some cases, the pay increase you get for overtime hours is more in California than it is in other states. Overtime pay exemptions are complicated, so your employer might not even know that you are entitled to overtime pay when you are. The Beverly Hills unpaid overtime wages lawyers at Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. can help you get paid the full amount your employer owes you for the overtime hours you have worked.
How Much Work is Considered Overtime?
In most states, workers who earn an hourly wage are entitled to overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a given week; the overtime pay rate is 1.5 times the worker’s hourly wage. In other words, you start getting overtime pay once your 41st hour of work for the week begins. California law observes this rule, with a few additional twists for workers.
For example, 40 hours counts as a full-time work week, but 80 hours counts as a full-time work fortnight. Therefore, you get overtime pay for every hour beyond the 80th that you work in a 14-day period. For example, if you worked 43 hours last week (and received overtime pay for the last three), you start getting overtime pay this week after you finish 37 hours.
Even better, California recognizes that eight hours represents a full day of work. If you work more than eight hours in a day, you start getting 1.5 times your usual wage once the ninth hour begins. This wage applies until you reach 12 hours of work. Once your 13th hour of work for the day begins, you get double your hourly rate. These rules apply even if you only work one day during that week.
Which Jobs and Situations are Exempt From Overtime, Even if You Work More Than 40 Hours in a Week?
A lot of people work more than eight hours in a day, more than 40 hours in a week, or more than 80 hours in a fortnight, but not all of them get overtime pay. Some jobs are exempt from overtime pay. These are some common situations where employers are not obligated to pay workers an overtime wage:
- Workers in “professional” jobs, such as medicine (physicians only), dentistry, accounting, computer software, artistic professions, and management, do not receive overtime pay, regardless of whether their remuneration is based on an hourly wage or an annual salary.
- Public sector employees do not get overtime in California; this includes employees of the state or any of its counties, cities, or districts.
- You do not get overtime pay if you work for your family’s business and the owner is your parent, spouse, or child.
- Most professional drivers are not entitled to overtime pay.
- If more than half of your income comes from commissions, and your total income from the job is greater than 1.5 times the local minimum wage ($15.92 per hour in Los Angeles County), your employer is not required to pay you overtime.
- Babysitters under the age of 18 do not get overtime pay if the babysitting work takes place in the employer’s home.
- Sumer camp counselors do not get daily overtime, but they are eligible for weekly overtime beginning with the 55thhour of work in a week.
- Employees of ski resorts get overtime pay beginning with the 49thhour of work in a week.
- The overtime pay rules are different for employees with an alternative workweek schedule.
A Beverly Hills Overtime Pay Lawyer Can Help You Exercise Your Right to Fair Pay
Employers have been known to use some underhanded tactics to get out of paying employees the full amount that they owe them. These tactics often involve denying that the employee is an overtime-eligible employee. One way that this can happen is by denying that you are an employee of the business at all.
Instead of designating you as an employee, withholding the appropriate taxes from your paycheck, and issuing a W-2 at tax time, your employer says that you are an independent contractor, issues you a 1099 at tax time, and leaves it to you and your tax accountant to figure out how much you owe in taxes.
Independent contractors pay much higher income taxes than employees, which is one of the reasons the gig economy is less lucrative than it sounds. Another is the lack of employer-provided health insurance. Most importantly for our purposes, though, independent contractors do not get overtime pay, no matter how many hours they work.
Another overtime pay avoidance technique employers use is tacking the word “manager” onto your title. Being a manager does not mean that your hourly wage increases, but it does mean that your employer does not have to pay you overtime. An employment lawyer can help you address issues of employer misclassification. Even if you have already left the job where you did not receive the overtime pay to which you were entitled, you still have the right to get the unpaid overtime wages now.
Contact Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. About Unpaid Overtime Wages
Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. is dedicated to helping workers in California collect the overtime pay that their employers were legally obligated to pay them. Contact Mehtani Law Offices, P.C. in Beverly Hills, California, to schedule a consultation.