Countless employees throughout Southern California work beyond 8 hours a day and 40 hours per week. These non-exempt workers are entitled to overtime pay. According to the California Labor Code, employers are required to pay workers 1 ½ times the regular wage for any additional time worked after 8 hours. Employers are also required to pay double the regular wage for any time worked beyond 12 hours in a day. Yet, far too many companies, corporations and private businesses blatantly violate the law.
My name is Matthew A. Kaufman and I am a California unpaid overtime attorney. Every employee deserves to receive the proper compensation for their work. The last thing any worker should have to worry about is whether they are receiving their proper regular or overtime pay. Overtime involves more than just staying late beyond a regular 9 to 5 shift. Workers that are asked to labor during their designated break periods are also entitled to overtime. Since 1993, my legal staff and I have successfully helped many men and women recover the proper compensation they deserved. Here are some of the most common unpaid overtime disputes in California:
It’s becoming increasingly common in recent years for employers to institute policies allowing workers to work from home (or anywhere else they please) instead of reporting to an office. Although the COVID-19 pandemic hastened this trend, even before the pandemic, companies across a range of industries were experimenting with these policies and discovering that they had no significant negative impact on productivity. In fact, some research indicates these policies can benefit employers by boosting both productivity and employee engagement.
However, work-from-home policies may result in certain drawbacks for employees if employers take advantage of them. For example, when employees work remotely, they often feel as though they’re expected to be “on call” during hours when they might otherwise not normally be working. This can result in workers not being paid for overtime.
Consider the following potential scenarios:
At first, an employer may begin to take advantage of a work-from-home employee in subtle ways. For instance, they might occasionally text them after normal working hours to ask them to handle tasks that only take a few minutes. Even this type of request isn’t necessarily appropriate if an employer has no intention of compensating an employee for their time. Additionally, such requests may grow increasingly significant, eventually resulting in an employee regularly working overtime without being paid accordingly.
This doesn’t need to happen to you. Although remote work policies certainly yield many benefits for employees, they can also have unexpected negative impacts if they prevent employees from receiving overtime pay. If you’re a work-from-home employee and you have strong reason to believe your employer isn’t fully compensating you for hours that you’ve worked, review your case with an expert for more information about your legal options. A California unpaid overtime attorney will explain how you should proceed.
When you take legal action for unpaid overtime, your employer might respond by disputing your account of the number of hours you’ve worked. Ways you can prove you worked certain hours include (but aren’t necessarily limited to) the following:
Those are just a few examples. If your boss is trying to argue that you didn’t work overtime and thus don’t deserve pay for overtime work, a California unpaid overtime attorney can help you show that they’re incorrect.
Over the years, we have represented many hard working people who were taken advantage by their employers. In many cases, employers often use deceiving and unethical practices when it comes to underpaying their workers. From the time a potential client visits our California employment law office for their initial consultation, we take the time to address all of your questions and concerns. Once a person becomes a client, the legal team at The Kaufman Law Firm immediately begins our plan of attack. Our legal professionals take pride in utilizing an aggressive and comprehensive approach to help place each client in the best position to succeed.
Many victims of unpaid overtime do not properly understand their rights. What you don’t know about California employment law can come back to hurt you. Our objective is to protect the rights of the client and to properly educate them on how to proceed through the legal process. But most importantly, our main goal is to win for our clients. More people in California turn to our team of legal professionals for employment law representation. Our California unpaid overtime attorneys work diligently both in the courtroom and behind the scenes to help clients achieve their goals. If you or someone you know has not received their correct overtime pay, contact the legal professionals at The Kaufman Law Firm and schedule an initial consultation to discuss your case.
Your job is more than just a source of income. It is a major part of your lifestyle. If you have been the victim of wrongful termination, wrongful demotion or any kind of discriminatory business practices, it is time to take action and contact a Ventura employment law attorney that can help. Attorney Matthew A. Kaufman and the team at The Kaufman Law Firm bring experience and a vast arsenal of legal resources to help clients recover the money they deserve.
To learn more, contact our California law office today and schedule an initial evaluation to discuss your case.