OVERTIME LAW
Nonexempt employees are entitled to overtime pay. Overtime pay is paid at one and a one half times the employee’s regular hourly wage. Overtime comes into play for California employees if they work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours in a week. Double time is owed for work more than 12 hours in a day, or on the seventh consecutive work day without a day off. These rules do not apply for caregivers. Caregivers in California must work 9 hours in a day or 45 hours in a week to be entitled to overtime.
OVERTIME
OVER 8 HOURS A DAY
or OVER 40 HOURS
A WEEK
DOUBLETIME
12 or MORE
HOURS IN A DAY
CAREGIVER TIME
9 HOURS IN A DAY
45 HOURS IN A WEEK
Nonexempt employees are employees who do not use any independent discretion in doing their work, or do so less than 51% of the time. In order to be nonexempt the employee must earn less than twice the hourly minimum wage.
Besides the test of independent discretion a number of jobs are classified as exempt. These jobs include lawyers, doctors, and artists. Managers are exempt if they are paid more than twice minimum wage for every hour worked and they either supervise two or more full-time employees, or are expected to use independent discretion in doing their job 51% or more of the time.
California has different overtime rules than federal overtime laws under the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act). Many cities and counties also have their own overtime rules based upon their own minimum wage.
Our law firm represents multiple employees and classes of employees in overtime lawsuits. .
CALL (951) 367-1000
IF YOU HAVE AN OVERTIME CLAIM
WORK OVERTIME
Employers can require their employees to work overtime. There is nothing unlawful about an employer requiring an employee to work overtime if they are paid for the overtime. If an employee refuses to work the hours required by the employer they can be terminated. It is not wrongful termination for an employer to fire an employee for refusing to work overtime.
Overtime and especially double time can become extremely taxing on the employee. We handled a case for translators whom had to work many consecutive weeks, every day of the week, up to 16 hours a day during periods of months. If an employer expects the employee to work those type of hours they simply must pay the employee for all overtime and double time.
Overtime claims can go back four years. Statutory overtime claims are a three year statute of limitations in California. For these reasons it is important to promptly hire an overtime attorney and file the overtime claim in court. The statute of limitations does not freeze during the period of time the employee remains employed by the employer causing the overtime situation. Due to potential statutes of limitation our law firm is aggressive in promptly filing overtime cases within a very short period of time after the employee retains our firm. In some cases the employee may have only been employed for a year and their employment recently ended. Still, there are other statutes of limitations which are more limited so it can be important to file the overtime case promptly.
OVERTIME CALIFORNIA
Besides recovering the amount of overtime and double time an employee is owed, our law firm is careful to sue for all potential Labor Code violations for which the employee may recover money. A failure to pay all double time or overtime due also leads to interest on past due overtime. A failure to pay all wages due upon the employment ending leads to a California Labor Code 203 penalty. California Labor Code Section 203 penalties entitle the employee to one day of pay for each day all of their wages remain unpaid. There is a three year statute of limitations for a California Labor Code Section 203 claim. A failure to put the correct number of hours worked and the correct rates of pay on a paycheck leads to a potential fine of $100 per paychecks. Claims for those fines are believed to have a one year statute of limitations.
Our law firm has experience in Private Attorney General (PAGA) claims. PAGA claims are brought on behalf of groups of employees who were not paid all wages due, or whose paystubs are not in compliance with the law because they do not show all hours worked or the correct hourly rates. The employee actually ends up sharing in the penalties that would otherwise go to the government. The first nine months of 2017 our firm has obtained four PAGA only settlements and three PAGA settlements that accompany class action lawsuits for wages.
Besides the penalty scheme and statutes of limitation being different under California law than Federal law, Federal law is not based upon daily overtime and double time. Because minimum wage is used to determine if certain professions earn enough to be exempt, Federal minimum wage is used in Federal law. There are other differences we will discuss if you want to hire us to be your overtime lawyers.
SOME OF OUR WAGE AND HOUR SETTLEMENTS:
- $1,150,000 unpaid commissions for 2 employees
- $800,000 for 12 employees exposed to overtime abuses
- $800,000 settlement for emergency workers not paid for all overtime
- $800,000 for mis-classified independent contractors
- $800,000 Meal breaks and controlled standby pay for emergency service workers
- $775,000 for small class action of employees not allowed meal breaks or cell phone reimbursements while caring for dependent adults
- $750,000 Sub-Minimum wage class action settlement
- $460,000 for security officers not paid all hours, cell phones & PAGA violations
- $450,000 paystub violations
- $350,000 for controlled standby and overtime for one employee
- $360,000 for missed meal and rest breaks, and overtime for 3 employees, and PAGA penalties for less than 25
- $400,000 Controlled Standby pay for 2 low voltage workers
- $875,000 for 4 oil field service industry workers whose times worked were not recorded on timesheets and were on-call
- $350,000 nurse mis-classified as independent contractor who was on-call
- $350,000 for directional driller whose fixed rate bonuses were not calculated into his overtime rate
- $350,000 for prevailing wage and paystub itemizations
- $350,000 for overtime time not paid at prevailing wage
- $350,000 for 2 employees in the vacation rental business who worked off-the-clock, on-call & PAGA
- $305,000 for 2 IT trouble shooters oncall at a major hospital
- $260,000 for controlled stand by pay
- $200,000 for two sales employees not paid all commissions
- $245,000 for minimum wage worker not paid for all hours worked
- $125,000 for employee who quit after being misclassified and not receiving overtime.
- $175,000 PAGA settlement resort staff who worked off-the-clock’
- $174,250 missed meal and rest breaks
- $175,000 Minor issues of pregnancy discrimination in fast food restaurant, lack of rest breaks
- $175,000 Failure to pay minimum wage & overtime of 3 strip club workers
- $125,000 non-payment of wages to CEO
- $180,000 Controlled standby pay claims of oil field service employee
- $515,000 for unpaid overtime and misclassified independent contractors
- $175,000 for controlled standby in the limousine industry
- Arbitration award of more than $200,000 for wage & hour violations in construction
- Arbitration award of $400,000 for 4 employees with meal & rest break violations plus PAGA penalties
CALL (951) 367-1000
FOR AN EXPERIENCED OVERTIME LAW FIRM
Our Firm: No upfront fees or costs
Contingency Fee Representation
All employment cases for employees are taken on a contingency basis. We are only paid a fee when and if we win your case, and we advance all litigation costs. Our goal is to make expert legal representation accessible to every hardworking employee.
Serving Riverside County
We have proudly served all of Riverside County since 1993.
The Employment Lawyers Group has successfully handled
2,000+
Separate California Employment Cases
Media Engagements
Sample Case Results
Employment Case
$18,402,868
Jury verdict for male visually harassed and subject to crude comments by a female manager
breach of commission contract
$1,150,000
Unpaid commissions of two plaintiffs
unpaid wages
$875,000
For 4 oil field service industry workers whose times worked were not recorded on timesheets and were on-call
Disclaimer: These results are based on the facts of these specific cases and do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case.
Practice Areas
Discrimination
Age, Disability, Family Medical Leave (FMLA/CFRA), Gender, National Origin, Pregnancy, Race, and Sexual Orientation claims.
Unpaid Wages & Overtime
Recovering earnings for Overtime, Bonuses, Commissions, Meal & Rest Breaks, and Prevailing Wage violations.
Sexual Harassment
Compassionate and effective representation for victims of sexual harassment and hostile work environment claims.
Wrongful Termination
Representing employees terminated in violation of public policy, contracts, or California and Federal law.
Leaves & Retaliation
Protecting employees who face adverse actions after reporting illegal activity or taking protected medical leave.
Whistleblowers
Advocating for employees who report fraud, waste, or abuse in their organizations under whistleblower protections.
Our California Locations
Bakersfield
5401 Business Park S, #214,
Bakersfield CA 93309
Los Angeles
Orange County
Riverside
Sacramento
777 Campus Commons Rd, #200,
Sacramento CA 95825
San Bernardino
San Diego
San Francisco
524 Union St, #400,
San Francisco CA 94133
San Jose
Sherman Oaks
Torrance
Ventura
Additional Sites
BostonLaborLaw.com
DcLaborAttorney.com
FresnoEmployeeLawyer.com
JobLawyer.net
MarylandLaborAttorney.com
ModemStud.com
VintageLosAngeles.org
WorkLawyerCA.info
About Firm Founder, Karl Gerber
Firm Founder, Karl Gerber, has been an employment wrongful termination attorney since 1993. He has represented a wide range of employees throughout California.
Mr. Gerber has won 51 of the binding arbitrations and jury trials he first chaired, and a number of his appeals are published. This deep trial experience is the foundation of the firm's strategic approach to litigation.
The employment attorneys employed by the Employment Lawyers Group have worked at the firm well in excess of five years, have also tried many different labor cases, and have all been extensively trained on employment wrongful termination by Karl Gerber.
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