What if An Employer Does Not Pay for All Time Worked?

An Orange County employment attorney can provide representation to employers in order to help companies ensure they comply with all labor laws. This is vitally important so employers can avoid lawsuits and damage to their reputation if they are sued for violating employee protection laws. Employment attorneys can also provide representation to workers who are mistreated or deprived of any of their rights by an employer. 

There are many different ways in which employers are deprived of important rights by the companies that they work for. One example is when an employer fails to comply with labor laws requiring that employees must be be paid for all of the hours that the employee works.

If you are an employee and your employer is not paying you at least minimum wage and/or is not paying you for all of the time you are performing work duties, you should get legal help in order to pursue an appropriate remedy. Brown & Charbonneau, LLP can provide assistance to employees in taking steps to recover unpaid wages from an employer who has violated the rules.

When is Your Employer Required to Pay You Wages?

If you are a salaried worker, your employer must pay you the agreed-upon salary that you have negotiated. Your employer cannot withhold your wages if you quit or are fired, and must ensure that you are paid as promised according to the payment schedule agreed to when you accepted the job.

If you are an hourly worker, your employer is required to pay you for all of the time that you are doing work tasks. Employers have been sued in the past for not paying workers when the workers are donning required safety gear, when workers are removing safety gear, or when workers are setting up their worksites.

Many of the cases in which employees claimed they were being underpaid have been decided in favor of workers, so there is a relatively broad definition of when an employee should be on-the-clock and getting paid. In general, if your employer is requiring you to be at work and doing tasks, your employer should be paying you for your time.

Your employer must pay at least minimum wage for every hour that you work, and must pay overtime when you work more than the maximum allowable weekly hours, unless you are an exempt employee who is not entitled to receive overtime benefits. An attorney can provide you with assistance in determining if you actually should be exempt and thus not entitled to overtime or if your employer misclassified you as exempt when you should not be. This is something that some employers do in order to try to avoid being required to pay overtime to workers.

What if an Employer Isn’t Paying You For Time Worked?

If an employer is not paying you for all of the time that you were supposed to be paid for, you can make a claim with the State of California Department of Industrial Relations. You can obtain forms in many different languages from the website of the Department of Industrial Relations and can file your claim either in person or by mail to your local Labor Commissioner’s office. You will need to submit supporting documentation, so you should typically talk with an Orange County employment attorney for help.

You may also be able to file a wage and hour lawsuit against your employer with the goal of obtaining your unpaid wages along with any appropriate back pay and penalties that you are due as a result of your employer’s failure o pay as promised. You will have to show you employer violated wage and hour laws and demonstrate the extent of your financial loss in order to make a claim successfully and obtain compensation in a civil court. An attorney can help you to decide if you should file a lawsuit and can assist you in proving you are entitled to damages.

Getting Help from An Orange County Employment Attorney

Brown & Charbonneau, LLP can help you to understand what your legal options are if you are not being paid by your employer as required by California and federal law. To find out how an Orange County employment attorney can assist you in getting the wages that your employer should have been paying you but wasn’t, you can give us a call at (866)237-8129 or contact us online. Give us a call as soon as you suspect your employer may be failing to follow the rules when it comes to paying you wages.