As a California employee, you have a right to sue your employer if you feel that they have failed to comply with wage and hour laws.
A wage and hour class-action lawsuit in California is a lawsuit in which a large group of employees has the same complaint against their employer. Wage and hour class-action lawsuits are practical in situations where an employer violates wage and hour laws applicable to a large number of employees.
Wage and Hour Class-Action Violations
Class-action lawsuits claiming wage and hour violations may arise from employers violating one or more California or federal labor laws.
Incorrect Employee Status
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) grants a number of rights to many types of employees. Employers may violate wage and hour laws by incorrectly classifying employees as FLSA exempt, thereby excluding them from many wage and hour law benefits.
Overtime and Double Time
Employers in California must pay employees that work beyond the eight-hour day or 40-hour week in overtime pay or double-time pay.
Meal and Rest Breaks
California provides that non-exempt employees are permitted to take a 30-minute uninterrupted meal break per day. For every four hours worked, non-exempt employees are also permitted to take a 15-minutes uninterrupted rest break.
Reimbursement
Employers must reimburse employees for gas mileage, tools, uniform maintenance allowance, and other reimbursable expenses.
Other Labor Law Violations
Other potential violations include failure to pay minimum wage, paycheck stub violations, and violations for failing to pay employees for work completed “off the clock.”
Benefits of Filing a Wage and Hour Class-Action Lawsuit
There are several benefits to bringing a wage and hour class-action lawsuit in California as opposed to bringing suit individually.
Contingency Fee Representation and Attorney Resources
Contingency-fee class-action attorneys can pool their resources to more adequately represent a group of individuals in a class-action lawsuit. The compensation for an individual plaintiff may be too small to justify the cost of a lawsuit. But the collective compensation for the class makes the effort and expense of bringing suit worthwhile for attorneys and plaintiffs alike.
Preserve Court Resources
Class-action lawsuits preserve court resources by not flooding the courts with individual cases. Class-action claims can solve a collective problem associated with a common grievance more efficiently than individual lawsuits.
Incentives and Awards
Class representatives may be able to receive incentive awards for bringing the class-action lawsuit in addition to any damages awarded.
Encouraging Change
Class-action lawsuits represent a large group of individuals suffering a common grievance. These types of cases advance public policy by correcting violations and creating a more fair workplace for future employees.
Requirements to Bring a Wage and Hour Class-Action Lawsuit
In California, there are numerous requirements for certifying a lawsuit as a class-action. These requirements include the following.
Impracticability
For a class-action filing to be certified, it must be impracticable for all members of the class to bring individual suits for the same grievance against their employer.
Commonality
Class-action members must share the same grievance or harm, and the lawsuit should answer the factual or legal questions common to all members of the class. Public policy interests should be advanced by the class-action lawsuit in that the focus of the litigation does not waste time answering different questions of harm or grievance among the members.
Typicality
The class representative, typically the named person on the filing, should share the same harm as the class members.
Contact Us
If you feel your employer has committed wage and hour violations in California, please contact the experienced attorneys at Workplace Rights Law Group today. Our dedicated team is eager to discuss your case and advise you on filing or joining a wage and hour class-action lawsuit.
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Theo Khachaturian
Theo is a trial & appellate lawyer whose practice has emphasized wage-and-hour class actions, business disputes, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and intellectual property theft. He has tried civil cases and argued before various California Courts of Appeal.