Looking Beyond Wrongful Termination

July 19, 2009

Many employees are unaware of their extensive rights under California Labor Laws, including their rights to meal and rest breaks and overtime compensation.

July 19, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Looking Beyond Wrongful Termination

Article provided by Advantage Law Group
Visit us at http://www.advantagelawgroup.com

Wrongful termination claims are often the first ones that come to mind when employees have been mistreated by their employers and subsequently fired. Although terminated employees may not have viable wrongful termination claims, such employees frequently have other potentially viable legal claims against their employers for unpaid wages. Many employees are unaware of their extensive rights under California Labor Laws, including their rights to meal and rest breaks and overtime compensation. Employees have a right to sue their employers for unpaid compensation when their employers fail to provide them all of the benefits to which they are entitled.

Misclassification of Employee Status

Under state law, whether or not an employee is entitled to certain benefits depends on the employee's status as "exempt" or "non-exempt." Employers are not required to provide certain benefits to exempt employees, such as meal and rest breaks. They also are not required to pay exempt employees overtime compensation for working more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours within a work week. Exempt employees generally are salaried employees who hold administrative, managerial or executive positions. Some salaried employees, however, also may be non-exempt, depending on their job duties.

Many employers may try to get around California's labor laws by misclassifying their employees as exempt. Simply providing an employee the title of a "manager," however, does not automatically make the employee exempt under state law. It is the actual job functions performed by the employee that determine whether or not he or she is exempt. Thus, if an employee is given the title of manager, but performs the same job duties as those he or she "manages" more than 50% of the time, then it is likely that the employee has been misclassified.

Employees who have been misclassified may be entitled to reimbursement of their lost wages, including payment for any overtime hours they have worked and meal and rest periods they have been denied. Employers also may be penalized for failing to pay overtime compensation owed to an employee within a specified amount of time.

Meal Breaks

Under state law, non-exempt employees are entitled to the following meal breaks:
-Employees who work at least 5 hours in a day are entitled to one meal break of at least 30 minutes
-Employees who work more than 10 hours in a day are entitled to two meal breaks of at least 30 minutes each (California Labor Code §512).

During the meal break, the employee must be completely free from work duties. Otherwise, the meal is considered "on-duty" and, generally, the employer must compensate the employee for the meal break at the employee's regular rate of pay.

On-duty meal periods are only permissible in limited circumstances when the nature of the employee's job duties prevents the employee from being relieved of all job duties during the meal break. For example, a security guard working alone is likely unable to take a duty-free break or meal period. In these situations, however, the employee and the employer must agree to on-duty meal periods and sign a written agreement that allows the employee to revoke the agreement at any time.

Employers may also have to compensate employees for their meal breaks if they require their employees to remain at the work site during the break -- even if the employee is relieved of all job duties during this time.

If an employer fails to give employees meal breaks as required to under state law, the employee may bring a claim against the employer for unpaid wages. An employer is required to pay an employee an hour of pay (at the employee's regular rate of pay) for each day the employer does not provide the employee a meal break (Labor Code §226.7).

Rest Breaks

California law also requires employers to provide rest breaks to non-exempt employees. Employees are entitled to a 10 minute break for each 4 hours that they work. The rest breaks should be given during the middle of the 4 hour period. Rest breaks are not the same as restroom breaks -- employers are required to provide employees a place to spend their rest breaks that is separate from the restrooms.

Employees are entitled to recover one hour's wage for each day they are not provided a rest break (Labor Code §226.7).

Conclusion

If your employer has denied you meal and/or rest breaks, failed to pay you overtime or if you believe you may be misclassified as an exempt employee, you may be entitled to recover any unpaid compensation owed to you by your employer. For more information on California wage and hour laws, contact an experienced employment law attorney today.

Article provided by Advantage Law Group
Visit us at http://www.advantagelawgroup.com

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