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In a time where California labor law is constantly changing and employers are playing it “fast and loose” in order to make ends meet, a California labor law attorney may be just what the doctor ordered to explain the complex California overtime laws. With a weakening economy, and jobs being shipped overseas, it is not uncommon to see rampant abuse of the California overtime laws. Employers routinely offer comp time instead of overtime - that is allowing an employee to stay late, pay no overtime, but come in late the following day as compensation. This practice directly violates California overtime laws unbeknownst to many employees. Another method is for employers to only pay overtime when an employee works over 40 hours in a week, but not when the employee works over 8 hours in a day. Again, a common practice, but nevertheless, illegal under California overtime laws. Another form of abuse when it comes to violation of the California labor law is when the employer forces employees to work “off the clock”. This means that after punching out or even before punching in to start the work day, an employee works without any record of payment. Clearly, this practice violates the California labor law as well as California overtime laws. Many employers if left unchecked continue this practice until they are brought to justice either by a claim through the California Labor Board or a private action brought by a California labor law attorney. Another area of abuse when it comes to California overtime laws is when an employer fails to permit their employees to take a 30 minute uninterrupted lunch after 5 hours of work. This violation of the California labor law has been a hot topic and a recent case has now viewed this violation as a wage violation and not a penalty. This distinction is important since wages in California can be claimed going as far back as 4 years while penalties can only be claimed for one year. A final area of violation of California overtime laws is the misclassification of employees. This has been an area in which employees suffer the greatest abuse. Under this violation of California labor law, employees who are truly entitled to overtime pay based upon the duties they actually perform are misclassified as exempt from overtime pay. Exempt employees are typically salaried and not paid hourly. Employers traditionally "label" such employees as supervisors or managers, yet in many cases they perform many of the same or similar duties as the rank and file employees or their own subordinates. If a violation of this type of California labor law occurs it can be an expensive lesson for an employer. Employees typically will be entitled to up to four years of back overtime, interest, penalties and their attorney’s fees if they prevail. California overtime laws are meant to be upheld and some employers have learned the hard way. Many California labor law attorneys who work to enforce the California overtime laws work on a contingency basis. In other words, there is typically no fee up front and the California labor law attorneys only get paid if and when they prevail on the case. This method of payment removes the obstacles from abused employees claiming what is due to them under the many California overtime laws. In closing, employees should arm themselves with knowledge of California labor law both in straight forward situations that are not particularly complicated as well as complex situations. Employees should consider consulting with a California labor law attorney for legal advice when necessary.
By: Mansi Gupta
Lars Vheltzer is a freelance journalist who frequently contributes and comments on California labor law and more specifically California overtime laws. Lars suggests that California employees who are suffering from an employer abuse of these laws may be best served by retaining a California labor law attorney.
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