Class Actions/ Representative Actions
Class actions are an essential tool for vindicating the rights of employees and consumers. Employees and consumers with the same or similar claims can join together to prosecute their claims against an employer or company. Because there is strength in numbers, employees and consumers can exact leverage over employers or companies to obtain damages, penalties, and other relief for the violations suffered by them.
Courts frequently reward employees and consumers who initiate and prosecute the class actions on behalf of other individuals by providing them with incentive or enhancement payments, which is in addition to what is received by other class members.
Wage and Hour
Employers are required to comply with federal, state, and local laws regulating the terms and conditions of employment, including compensation. Unfortunately, many employers break applicable law because they do not educate themselves on the relevant laws or knowingly break the law. Woodall Law Offices holds employers accountable for wage and hour violations, including those below.
In California, employers are required to pay a non-exempt employee 1.5 times his/her regular rate of pay for any minutes or hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek, in excess of eight (8) hours in a workday, and for the first eight hours worked on the seventh day of work in a workweek. Employers are required to pay a non-exempt employee 2 times his/her regular rate of pay for any minutes or hours worked in excess of 12 hours in a workday or in excess of eight hours worked on the seventh day in a workweek. Like California, federal law requires that employees be paid at 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week.
Employers violate overtime laws for different reasons. Some employers misclassify employees as exempt and pay a salary, instead of properly classifying them as non-exempt and paying by the number of hours worked (hourly), including at overtime rates of pay. Other employers pay employees hourly but do not properly calculate the regular rate of pay, which results in unpaid overtime pay.
The regular rate of pay not only includes an employee’s base rate of pay, but some other compensation earned, such as a portion of non-discretionary bonuses paid. Employers also fail to make sure their software calculates overtime at 1.5 or 2 times the regular rate when employees work in excess of the daily and weekly maximum hours.
Employees must be paid for all hours worked at the minimum wage rate set by the State of California, the United States and any higher rate set by any California county.
Employers violate minimum wage laws by not paying employees for all time worked and not paying at the correct, highest minimum wage rate.
Where an employer agrees to pay an hourly rate that is higher than the minimum wage rate, but either does not pay the agreed upon rate or fails to pay an employee for all hours worked, the employee can recover the unpaid wages at the agreed upon rate of pay.
If an employee works more than five hours per day, (s)he is entitled to an uninterrupted 30-minute meal period before the end of the 5th hour of work, unless a lawful waiver exists. When an employee works more than 10 hours in a workday, (s)he is entitled to a second uninterrupted 30-minute meal period. Employers who fail to authorize and permit meal periods owe employees one hour of pay for each day an uninterrupted 30-minute meal period is missed or not timely provided.
Employees are entitled to a paid 10-minute rest period for every four (4) hours worked or major fraction thereof. In a typical 8-hour shift, an employee is entitled to two 10-minute rest periods. Employers who fail to authorize and permit rest periods owe employees one hour of pay for each day a 10-minute rest period is not provided.
Employees violate meal and rest period laws by failing to provide them, not providing them at the correct times of the day, providing shorter breaks than required by law and not making sure employees are off-duty while on the breaks.
Employers are required to provide wage statements (pay stubs) every two weeks for hourly employees, which contain the legal name and address of the employer, an employee identification number or the last four digits of the employee’s social security number, the gross and net wages earned, the total number of hours worked and the number of hours worked at each rate of pay, among other things.
Employees are entitled to a $50 statutory penalty for the initial violation and a $100 statutory penalty for each subsequent pay period where an employer knowingly and intentionally provides a wage statement that is inaccurate or does not contain this information, up to $4,000 per person.
Accurate and compliant wage statements are important and required by law because employees should be able to determine whether they have been correctly paid, among other things required by the statute.
Employers are required to reimburse necessary expenses incurred by employees in the performance of their duties or at the direction of the employer. Many employers violate this law by failing to reimburse employees who drive their own vehicles for work, use their personal cell phones or other tools for business and incur uniform costs.
If an employee quits without prior notice, the employer must pay all final wages earned within 72 hours of the notice of resignation. Employees who are discharged must be paid all final wages earned on the termination date. For each day an employer is late, the employee is entitled to one day’s wages, up to 30 days’ wages, as a penalty.
During employment, employers must pay hourly employees twice during a calendar month. Work performed between the 1st and 15th days of any calendar month must be paid between the 16th and 26th day of the month. Work performed between the 16th and last day of the calendar month must be paid between the 1st and 10th day of the following month.
Employers fail to timely pay final wages by missing the deadlines or not properly paying wages earned during employment, which remain unpaid in the final wages.
When an employee earns paid vacations pursuant to an employer policy or agreement and not all earned vacations have been taken when his/her employment ends, all vested and unused vacation must be paid to the employee with the final wages at his/her final rate of pay.
Employers violate the law by miscalculating the unused vacation time, not paying the unused vacation time at the final rate of pay or simply neglecting to pay for any vested, unused vacation when employment ends.
Background Checks
Under federal and California laws, an employer must provide a proper disclosure in order to obtain a background check for an applicant or employee. The disclosure cannot include extraneous information, such as releases of liability, statements regarding the laws of other states and the like. The disclosure should simply state that a background check will be performed, the kinds of information that will be sought and the name and contact information of the company performing the background check.
California also requires other information, such as a box for the employee or applicant to check as to whether (s)he wants to obtain a copy of the background check. Certain information cannot be sought in background checks as well.
Employers violate the background check laws by including extraneous information other than the required disclosure, not including all required information, and seeking information prohibited by law, among other things.
Wrongful Termination
In California, employees are wrongfully terminated when they are discharged for illegal reasons, such as discrimination based upon protected characteristics of the employee, retaliation for the employee making complaints of discrimination or harassment, the employee taking protected leaves of absence or the employee making whistleblower complaints regarding violations of the law, among other things.
If an employee prevails in a wrongful termination case, (s)he can seek general damages related to lost wages and emotional distress, reinstatement to the job held (in some cases), and punitive damages.
Woodall Law Offices fights for employees who have been wrongfully terminated by their employers to get what they deserve.
Discrimination/
Retaliation/ Harassment
It is illegal to discriminate against employees based upon their race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status. Unlawful discrimination includes refusing to hire employees, discharging employees, not promoting or demoting employees and providing employees with lower wages or benefits due to one of the protected characteristics above.
Likewise, an employer cannot harass an employee based upon one of the protected characteristics and must take immediate steps to investigate and prevent harassment by co-workers.
If an employee makes a complaint of unlawful harassment or discrimination, an employer is prohibited from retaliating against the employee. The employer cannot fire the employee, deny the employee a promotion or demote the employee or reduce his/her wages and benefits because such a complaint was made.
Employers often give other reasons for taking the adverse actions and deny it was due to discrimination or retaliation. To prevail on such claims, an employee can show the reason given by the employer was wrong and/or the employee was treated differently than other employees who do not have the protected characteristic or did not make the complaint. Ultimately, the employee must show the adverse employment action was taken, at least in part, due to his/her protected characteristic or complaint.
If an employee prevails on a claim for unlawful discrimination, harassment or retaliation, (s)he can seek lost wages, emotional distress, reinstatement to a position, and/or punitive damages.
Woodall Law Offices fights for employees who are subjected to discrimination, harassment, and/or retaliation to get them the compensation they deserve.
Personal Injury
Individuals who are negligent and injure others can be held responsible for damages. A common example is a car accident caused by someone who was not following the “rules of the road” and hits another car or person. Car accidents frequently cause personal injury to the driver or passenger, such as broken bones, bruising, cuts, and the like. In some cases, car accidents result in death.
Victims of negligence are not only entitled to compensation for their medical bills but damages for lost wages and pain and suffering. In many cases, the pain and suffering damages greatly exceed the costs associated with medical bills.
Woodall Law Offices fights for those injured by the fault of others and seeks the maximum compensation available.
General Litigation
All too often, there are disputes between those who have entered into contracts with each other, those who do business together, neighbors and consumers who purchase products or services from another person or business. If the disputes are not resolved informally, a party can file a lawsuit to determine who is right and whether any damages are owed.
Woodall Law Offices will frequently attempt to obtain an informal resolution before filing a lawsuit. If an informal resolution cannot be reached, Woodall Law Offices represents individuals during litigation, up to and including trial.
Need Help? Do You Have Questions?
Contact us for a free and confidential consultation at (415) 413-4629 or [email protected].