FPI MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEE RENT CREDITS

Wage Order 5 places maximum amounts an employer can credit towards wages they owe employees required to live on their premises, and employees not required to live on premises to the extent the rent credit is credited towards minimum wage that must be paid for every hour worked. For instance, highly paid residential managers earning $5,500 a month cannot have more than $621.29 charged as a rent credit if they manage an upscale 200 unit building managed by an employer with 1,000 employees. In the case of minimum wage, an employee required to work 25 hours a week on premises cannot be paid nothing for those hours because they receive a $1200.00 a month apartment. That employee would be entitled to at least minimum wage for each hour worked offset by $621.29-$593.05 a month if they were single.

In 2017 employers who required their employees to live on their premises were prohibited from giving rent credits, against wages, in excess of $595.05 a month or $564.81 depending on how many employees the employer had if the employee was not a couple. Couples could not be charged more than $877.27 or $835.49 a month.

In 2018 employers who required their employees to live on their premises could not charge single employees more than $621.29-$593.05 a month for rent. Couples cannot be charged more than $919.04-$877.26.
The amount employers can charge their employees to live on premises is based upon the number of employees the employer has with 25 or fewer employees subjecting the employer to the smaller figures and employers with 26 or more employees being able to take the larger credit. If the employee is not required to live on the premises, the employer’s rent credits can only be credited against minimum wage for the amounts listed above. All of the above credits cannot equal more than 2/3 the reasonable rental value of an apartment. For instance, if the apartment is only worth $1,000 a month the employer cannot receive $792.00 in wage credits from the employee even if it is a couple who could otherwise be charged up to $919.04 a month.

FPI MANAGEMENT LAWSUIT

The Employment Lawyers Group law firm, run by Karl Gerber who has represented California since 1993, has filed a lawsuit against FPI Management. The California lawsuit alleges FPI Management required their employees to live on premises, and enter into rent credit agreements. The rent credit agreements assign values to apartments in excess of that which allowed under California Wage Order 5. In other words, FPI Management is taking a greater rent credit towards their employees’ wages than allowed under California law.

Although there have already been several class action lawsuits against FPI Management by their employees it does not appear any of these lawsuits dealt with their improper rent credits. Even if they did, the class periods in those lawsuits ended by the latest in July of 2017. Although the lawsuit the Employment Lawyers Group filed asks for a longer class period, it may be limited to improper rent credits by FPI Management from July of 2017 to whenever the lawsuit is certified as a class action, or preliminarily certified for settlement purposes if either of those events occur.

The employees in the putative class action against FPI Management include all California employees who worked for Defendant FPI Management within the State of California from January 2, 2014 to present and who were required to live on-site at a property managed by Defendant FPI Management and who received a rent credit in excess of the maximum allowed under the Industrial Welfare Commission’s Wage Order 5. These employees include property managers, maintenance employees, and any other employees whose wages were reduced by rent credits in excess of the limitations in Wage Order 5.

While earlier lawsuits against FPI Management only covered nonexempt employees this particular lawsuit could cover exempt employees who received illegal rent credits. If that is the case the period of time the lawsuit can go back is all the way back to January 2, 2014.

While Wage Order 5 allows rent credits of approximately $600 a month for single employee residents, the employee who filed the lawsuit was credited more than $2,000 for his apartment. Instead of receiving more than $2,000 in wages he was provided with an apartment he was forced to live in, and not paid more than $1,500 a month in wages he worked for. While FPI Management could have credited the employee’s wages less than $600 a month they credited his wages more than $2,000 a month.

Apartment managers and maintenance workers of FPI will be class members in this lawsuit if the court certifies it as a class action. Class action treatment for the lawsuit appears appropriate because the same rent credit agreement was used for approximately 500 employees, and a rent credit for more than allowed by California law was taken.

Employees in the putative FPI Management class action for improper rent credits may be able to obtain the amounts of rent improperly taken from their wages. They may also be able to obtain interest on these improper rent deductions. Several additional penalties may also be obtained including $100 per paycheck that improperly reports rent credits, and 30 days of wages if the employee is no longer employed by FPI Management.

Several legal theories have been alleged in the FPI Management lawsuit. These different legal theories allow employees to go back in time for wages and penalties for differing amounts of time. For the rent credits the lawsuit seeks to go back three to four years from January 2, 2018. Whether some of this period is wiped out due to a prior class action that went through July of 2017 is still unknown.

If the Labor Workforce Development Agency does not investigate this issue, the putative class action against FPI Management will be amended to ask for Private Attorney General Penalties which class members may be able to share in. The period of time for Private Attorney General Penalties may be limited to one year from the date of administrative exhaustion of these penalties. The Employment Lawyers Group has already exhausted administrative remedies for the FPI Management lawsuit.

The Employment Lawyers Group is eagerly awaiting to review all FPI Management rent credit agreements. Employees who have any questions about rent credits, or the putative class action against FPI Management should call the Employment Lawyers Group at 1-877-525-0700

FPI MANAGEMENT PAYCHECKS REPORT WRONG RATE OF PAY FOR OVERTIME RATES

FPI Management’s paystubs may have reported strange overtime rates for numerous employees. The Employment Lawyers Group has paystubs from one FPI Management employee who is reported to have approximately 16 different overtime rates none of which make any sense, or correspond to his hourly rate. A failure to properly report rates of pay on paystubs lead to fines of $100.00 per paystub. The statute of limitations for this theory may only be one year so employees facing paystub errors should take legal action immediately.

The Employment Lawyers Group is presently investigating just how many employees received paystubs from FTP Management with erroneous rates of pay. A putative class action has been filed against FPI Management alleging they provided employees paystubs with erroneous rates of overtime pay that did not correspond with their rates of pay.

The group of persons who will be in the potential class action for paystubs errors has been defined in the lawsuit to include all persons, whether permanent, probationary, or temporary, employed by Defendant FPI Management within the State of California from January 2, 2017 to present who were furnished inaccurate wage statements in violation of the requirements set forth in California Labor Code Section 226(a) because the wage statements failed to include the employee’s correct hourly rates, including those for overtime and/or double time, accurate gross and net wages earned, and the correct itemized deductions for rental credits paid by Defendant FPI Management as compensation in excess of the allowable limits under Wage Order 5. Employees who were subjected to improper FPI rent credits who worked for FPI before January 2, 2017 may be members of the rent credit class in the lawsuit, but not necessarily the part of the case dealing with improper paystubs.

California Labor Code Section 226 requires employers to provide all rates of pay for employees. This means their correct hourly rate must be included on the paystub. It also means the correct overtime and double time rates must be on the employee’s paystubs. If a rate of pay has been changed due to a rent credit or piece rate work the rate of pay must reflect those unusual circumstances. Additionally, paystubs cannot report an amount for a rent credit in excess of Wage Order 5’s limitations discussed earlier in this article. The FPI paychecks Employment Lawyers Group has reviewed show paychecks illegally claiming the payment of the entire rent credit as wages.

Karl Gerber and/or Brett Gunther are available to speak to any FPI Management employee who has questions about the putative class action that was filed including rent credits and paystub issues. Wage and hour lawsuits are technical and so are the variety of laws pertaining to employee wages. For these reasons, and due to the prior lawsuits against FPI management it is important to contact the Employment Lawyers Group and give as much and as honest information about your employment as possible so they can determine how you might be effected by the present putative class action lawsuit they filed.

Allow the Employment Lawyers Group to view your paystubs in order to determine if your employer properly reported your rates of pay.
CALL 1-877-525-0700

The Employment Lawyers Group has offices throughout California. In the Inland Empire we have an office in Riverside, Ontario CLICK TO THE ARTICLE ON THAT SITE. In Los Angeles County they have offices in Downtown Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, and Torrance. In Southern California we have offices in Oxnard, Bakersfield, and Tustin.They have represented more than 500 individual workers in wage claims, and many thousands in class actions in order to collect wages. Please feel free to contact the Employment Lawyers Group, Riverside if you have a question about wages owed to you regardless of whether FPI Management owes you the wages.

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