A nearly decade-long court battle ends as national department store chain Burlington Stores Inc. has agreed to pay almost $20 million for misclassifying workers to avoid paying them overtime.
According to court records, roughly 1,630 employees will receive an average payment of $12,000 as part of the settlement. California workers are included under a second class-action suit filed against the company.
For decades, farmworkers in California were excluded from most state and federal wage and hour laws requiring employers to pay overtime for time worked exceeding 40 hours per week or eight hours per day. Since 1976, agricultural employers were only required to pay OT to those working more than 10 hours a day or 60 per week.
That changed in 2019 when Assembly Bill 1066 went into effect. Starting on Jan. 1, 2019, a new timetable began for overtime rules affecting farmworkers. The changes are being phased-in until they receive roughly the same treatment for overtime pay as workers in most other professions.
State and federal laws protect California workers against employers who expect or require their employees to perform work-related duties without compensation.
Working “off the clock” is a common wage and hour violation for any uncompensated work done for an employer that should count for overtime purposes.
Employers sometimes commit wage theft through illegal deductions from their workers’ paychecks. California law protects employees and penalizes employers for these violations, just as they do for failing to pay overtime, denying rest or meal breaks or other illegal activity.
In the Golden State, employers can only make deductions allowed under state or federal laws, or when an employee authorizes them. That approval must be in writing and include insurance premiums or deductions for other health, welfare or pension contributions.
As an employee, you have the right to fair treatment by your employer. This doesn’t mean everything will always go as planned, but there are both federal and state laws in place to help protect you against unfair circumstances.
If you suspect that you were wrongfully terminated, you’re sure to have feelings of both frustration and anger. Rather than let your feelings boil over, here’s what you need to do:
Employers commit wage theft in a number of ways, such as not paying minimum wage or overtime, refusing to give rest or meal breaks or failing to follow other wage and hour laws.
If you experience any of these infractions, you can submit a claim with the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). Here is an overview of the process.
An economic think tank says workers – especially those whose earnings are at or near the minimum wage – are more likely to experience wage violations during an economic downturn. The Washington Center for Equitable Growth says workers, on average, lose one-fifth of their pay to wage theft.
Researchers say even when the economy is booming, people who work in construction, the food industry, clothing and those with domestic jobs have difficulty receiving all the compensation they deserve. That’s especially true for people of color, women and those lacking union representation or citizenship.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act safeguards workers, families and communities from plant closings or mass layoffs by stipulating that employers give a 60-day notice to employees as well as state and local representatives.
The advance notice helps give workers time to transition from the loss of their job to the prospect of new employment and, if necessary, seek new skills through training or upgrade their current abilities to position themselves in the job market successfully.
California is one of a handful of states that requires employers to provide nonexempt workers with a 30-minute uninterrupted meal break if they work at least five hours during a shift. The meal break can only be waived by mutual consent when a shift is less than six hours.
A second 30-minute uninterrupted meal break must also be offered by employers when employees work more than 10 hours per day. Both parties can agree to waive the second lunch period, but only if the worker has not already waived the first meal break. If an employee works shifts of 12 hours or more an employee cannot waive a second meal break.
Family comes before anything else. And in times like these, California workers need the freedom and flexibility to care for themselves and their loved ones when they need it most. While the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), California’s equivalent to FMLA is known as California Family Rights Act (CFRA), grants them this opportunity, some may wonder if the time the law gives them is flexible.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, intermittent FMLA allows some workers flexibility depending on the circumstances.
California Employment Law Blog