I have been following California employment law lately. If you are an employer in California, you need to pay close attention to employment law and labor codes. Things like not paying wages or not paying overtime are serious. First, the employees can take you to court themselves. The employees can also take you to the Labor Board. If the violations are serious enough, the Labor Commissioner may get involved and initiate its own investigation and case. Also, California has the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), which allows private attorneys to prosecute employers on behalf of the Labor Commissioner. The employee's private attorney can not only pursue the employee's claims but pursue claims on behalf of other employees --- which means collect all of those wages and penalties for other employees who didn't hire an attorney. The awards and penalties are then split among the employees and the Labor Commissioner. And finally, if the violations are serious enough to be criminal, the case can be forwarded to the District Attorney.
Some recent articles...
Employer got cited by Labor Commissioner to pay >$100k in overtime wages, plus penalties for failing to pay overtime, plus $300k for issuing improper itemized/ deduction statements. Apparently, the employer (garment maker in LA) pays its workers by the number of pieces they make. Even if paying by the piece, the itemized statements must show the number of pieces made plus the total number of hours worked. It seems that the employer violated the law by not providing proper pay stub information and used piece rate to go around the overtime laws, which is very highly frowned upon by the Dept of Labor.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/california-labor-commissioner-fines-garment-contractor-for-wage-theft-2013-04-11
This one is a little more serious and involves more than just the Labor Commissioner. The case was serious enough to get forwarded to the DA. The 2 defendants are actually charged with criminal FELONY, with counts varying from worker's comp fraud, payroll tax evasion, sales tax evasion, and grand theft of labor. This shows that not paying workers can be considered theft, which is a crime.
http://sdgln.com/news/2013/04/09/college-area-restaurant-charged-not-paying-employees
Business owner faces criminal charges for circumventing worker's comp insurance laws. Business owner didn't carry worker's comp insurance as required by law. He didn't learn his lesson the first time around. When he was first charged with criminal violations, he provided evidence of insurance. Department of Labor was not happy to find out that he canceled the insurance a month after that, so now he faces criminal charges again.
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/california_labor_law/california-labor-law-lawsuit-43-18651.html#.UXYG5ytAS9Q
I am an attorney in California. I have successfully pursued cases against employers on behalf of my clients. If you feel that you have a case, let me know at attorneycharlottelin@gmail.com. See more information on employment law on my new website at www.lincharlotte.com.
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