You can recover unpaid wages, overtime, tips in California if you know your rights and how to enforce them. Does your employer owe you unpaid wages or overtime? Or, maybe you need information on the breaks you’re entitled to, overtime rules, or your right to tips. If so, find out here on this site what you can do in California to get the money you have earned

Answers to those and other questions about wage and hour law in California are right here on this site. You will find out about:

• your rights to pay and what to do if you are owed pay 
• whether you are eligible for overtime pay in California 
• your right to tips in California 
• what deductions your California employer can make from your pay 
• what breaks you are entitled to in California, and
• how to file a wage claim against your employer with the California Department of Industrial Relations.

A few things to keep in mind as you explore this site:

1. Wage and hour laws differ from state to state.

Most states have enacted their own wage and hour regulations and procedures for employees to follow if they have been treated unfairly. These regulations and procedures vary from state to state. Start by finding out about your rights to pay in California.

more...  

You are entitled to be paid the minimum wage set by law in California, unless you are exempt, and you have other work pay rights, too. No matter how you are paid in California, whether by hourly wage, salary, commissions, tips, or piece rate, the law in California gives you certain rights. While your employer can pay you in a variety of ways, each manner of payment is regulated by federal law and some states also regulate them. These regulations:

• guarantee minimum wage rates
• define commission pay
• set paycheck payment schedules, and
• establish the deadlines for paycheck payments in California.

The California Department of Industrial Relations explains the California laws that regulate pay for work in California.

more...  

Most employers must pay overtime pay for every hour of overtime an employee works in California, unless the employee is exempt. To figure out if you are entitled to overtime pay for your work in California, these are the questions you need answers to:

• Is your employer covered by federal or state overtime pay laws?
• Are you eligible for overtime pay under federal or state overtime pay laws?
• Are you exempt from overtime pay laws?
• How does California regulate overtime pay? and,
• What is the overtime pay rate in California?

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires most employers to pay employees 1-1/2 times their regular hourly wage for every hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek, unless the employee is exempt from overtime pay entitlement. So, if you are eligible, you should be paid your regular hourly wage plus 50% of that wage as premium pay for each overtime hour worked.

Most states have their own overtime laws, too, which apply to people working in the state. However, the FLSA sets the minimum standard for overtime pay. So, if a state’s overtime law is less protective of employees, the FLSA standard will be applied to people working in that state.

more...  

Although many states allow employers to pay tipped employees less than the minimum wage, California is not among them. In California, your employer must pay you the full hourly minimum wage.

If you earn tips, you should know the rules about

• what counts as a tip
• how much your employer must pay you in addition to your tips, and
• whether and how much you can be required to contribute to a tip sharing arrangement (also called a “tip pool”).

Under federal and California law, tips belong to the employee. An employer can never take employee tips and keep them for itself. In many states, an employer is allowed to take a “tip credit” – to count part of the tips an employee earns towards the employer’s obligation to pay the minimum wage. However, this is not allowed in California, as explained below.

Employers may also be allowed to require employees to share their tips with each other and to pass on certain costs – such as credit card processing fees – to employees by docking their tips.

Is your employer giving you all of the tips to which you are legally entitled? To find out, you first have to understand what money counts as a tip.

more...  

California is one of a handful of states that require employers to provide paid rest breaks to employees. 

Although many employees get meal and rest breaks during the workday, these breaks aren’t legally required everywhere. Federal law doesn’t require employers to give employees time off to eat or rest during their shifts. Employees are entitled to these breaks only if their state requires it.  

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn’t require employers to give breaks, but it does regulate when employers have to pay for breaks they choose to give. 

Should Your Breaks Be Paid?

The FLSA requires employers to pay employees for all hours worked, including time the employer may classify as a “break.” An employer does not have to pay for longer meal breaks during which the employee is relieved of all work duties.

more...  

If you have an overtime, minimum wage violation, or other wage and hour claim against your employer, you can complain within your company, file a wage claim (in most states), or file a lawsuit to assert your rights. 

If your employer has not paid you the full minimum wage, has not paid you overtime you earned, has not paid you for every hour worked, has required you to work through unpaid breaks, or has illegally kept your tips (among other things), you may have a legal claim for wage theft. Below, we explain the most common wage law violations and provide information on how to enforce your right to be paid fairly, and on time, for all of your work.

Common Wage and Overtime Violations

If your employer hasn’t paid you fully for every hour you have worked, you may have legal claims for violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or California wage and hour law. Here are some common wage theft claims.

Minimum Wage

Your employer must pay you at least the highest minimum wage that applies to you, whether federal, state, or local. If you haven’t received at least this much per hour, less any allowed deductions, you may have a claim for unpaid wages.

The minimum wage in California is $10 an hour. Because this is higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, employees in California must be paid at least $10 an hour. 

A handful of local governments in California have passed ordinances establishing a higher minimum wage. If you work in one of these cities or counties, you are entitled to earn the higher local minimum wage amount:

• Berkeley: $11
• Emeryville: $14.44
• Los Angeles: $10
• Los Angeles County: $10
• Mountain View: $11
• Oakland: $12.55
• Palo Alto: $11
• Richmond: $11.52
• San Francisco: $12.25
• San Jose: $10.30
• Santa Clara: $11
• Santa Monica: $10
• Sunnyvale: $10.30

In some localities, the minimum wage is slightly lower for smaller employers and employers who contribute a certain amount to employee benefits. Contact your city or county government office to learn the details of your local minimum wage law. 

Wages for Tipped Employees

Some states allow employers to pay a lower minimum wage to employees who earn tips; others don’t. Either way, you must earn at least the full applicable minimum wage. See What Are My Rights to Tips in California? for more information on California law for tipped employees.

more...  

Your employer can garnish your wages in California if ordered to do so. Under federal law, California employers may garnish, or withhold, a portion of an employee’s wages because the employer has been ordered to do so by a court or through some other legal procedure by a creditor.

Your wages may be garnished in California if you have:

• unpaid credit card debt and the credit card company seeks repayment
• failed to pay child or spousal support
• defaulted on a student loan, or
• unpaid taxes due and the taxing authority seeks payment.

Wage garnishment happens when an employee has an unpaid debt (unrelated to employment) and the creditor of the debt seeks payment. Generally speaking, your employer must garnish your wages when ordered to do so. But, there are limits on how much of your earnings may be garnished, and on how your employer responds to the garnishment. And, some states set greater limits on the amount of an employee’s wages an employer may garnish than does federal law.

more...  

Although California employers do not have to provide paid vacation time to employees, employees in California are entitled to paid sick leave.

Many employers, in California and nationwide, offer paid time off to their employees. As employees, we might take our paid vacation and sick days for granted. However, in most states, employers are under no obligation to provide paid time off. In fact, about one-quarter of employees in the private sector get no paid vacation days, and almost 40% get no paid sick time.

Paid Vacation

Currently, no state requires employers to provide paid vacation or personal leave to employees. If you have an employment agreement that promises you a certain number of paid vacation days, then you may have a contract claim against your employer if it doesn’t provide them. Otherwise, however, California employers may choose whether or not to offer vacation time.

If your employer does provide vacation time, state law determines whether your employer must pay out your accrued, unused vacation time when your employment relationship ends.

Under California law, your final paycheck must include pay for accrued vacation time.

more...