The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), based on rulings from the United States Supreme Court, trumps a variety of other types of laws. There is currently a split of authority between federal appeals courts as to the interaction between National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the FAA. Some circuits, including the Ninth (which covers California) have […]
Misclassified Employees in a Class Action
Quite often it happens that an employer has a policy that is applicable to a group of employees. That is where, typically, the class action vehicle may come in where a group of workers are harmed in the same way so that a single lawsuit against the employer can be brought on behalf of the […]
Proving hours worked in an unpaid overtime case
How do you prove how many hours someone worked a year ago? If there are records, it is a relatively simple task. However, if the employee was classified as exempt, they likely did not punch a time clock. However, there are other ways to prove how many hours and employee worked. For instance, if there […]
Employee lunch breaks and rest periods
For every time you work 3-1/2 hours, you should be getting a 10-minute rest break that’s paid. Any time you work more than 5 hours in a day you are entitled to a 30-minute unpaid lunch break, meaning you are supposed to clock out and clock back in. So, every interval of that 3-1/2 hours, […]
Misclassified Exempt Employees and Unpaid Overtime
Q: If an employee is classified as exempt and working over 40 hours per week, how would your law firm make the argument that they are entitled to overtime? A: The first consideration we take into account is how much the employee is getting paid. One of the requirements to being exempt in California is […]
Misclassified Employees
Q: An employee comes into you, has been characterized as an independent contractor for years. How can you help that person? A: There are a lot of factors to be considered such as: How are you paid? Is there a written contract? What does the contract say? And as for the contract, it may be […]
Types of Employee Classification
The basic classification is “non-exempt.” California law presumes that all employees are non-exempt employees, meaning that they are not exempt from the Labor Code and Wage Order requirements, such as overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, and minimum wage. Usually, non-exempt employees are paid by the hour. The other classification is “exempt.” Exempt employees are […]
The importance of proper employee classification
Why is it important that I be properly classified by my employer? When working for a company, you may be classified and “exempt” or “non-exempt” or the company may treat you as an “independent contractor.” There are several reasons why proper classification is important, both on the employer’s side and on the employee’s side. On […]
What is an “independent contractor”?
An independent contractor is another kind of classification and not necessarily an employee classification. Many employers try to classify people incorrectly as independent contractors because they don’t have to pay the employer’s share of various employment taxes, keep track of hours, breaks nor do they have to provide other common employee benefits such as health […]
Employment Development Department
A problematic issue for California companies in the case of employee misclassifications is that the Employment Development Department (EDD) has been auditing employers who incorrectly categorize their workers as independent contractors. The result of an EDD’s determination that the employer had indeed improperly classified workers as independent contractors is that the employer has to pay […]