Calabasas Employment Law Blog

Wage and hour protections are available at both state and federal levels and it may be possible to make a complaint through both. When a worker has been denied overtime pay or minimum wage, they may be able to recover wages they are owed by understanding how they can report wage and hour violations.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are required to pay workers at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay for employees who work over 40 hours in a week. When workers have been denied the wages they are due, they may be able to receive back pay for the wages they were wrongly denied through the complaint process.

Workplace discrimination is a serious concern for the stability of workers and is prohibited in the workplace. To protect their rights against workplace discrimination, it is important for workers to be familiar with what those rights are and how to enforce them when they have been violated. In addition to protections against workplace discrimination, workers cannot be retaliated against for complaining about workplace discrimination.

The law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees or prospective employees on the basis of race; color; national origin; sex, which includes gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy; disability or genetic information. In addition, employers are prohibited from discriminating when posting job advertisements, when recruiting and in the application, interview and hiring processes.

Given the critical role wages play in workers’ lives, one would hope businesses would stick to the rules when it comes to paying employees. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, companies commit wage violations against their employees. When workers suspect they have been the victim of this, one option they may have is to pursue legal action, such as a wage violation lawsuit.

A recent study looked at 1,200 wage violation claims against large U.S. companies. All of these lawsuits were successful, ending in either a settlement or a verdict. The cases were from 2000 to 2018. Overall, billions were paid out in these cases.