California wage & hour lawyers

Overtime and minimum wage

Unless you're legally exempt, California requires overtime (Labor Code § 510):

• 1.5× your regular rate for hours over 8 in a workday or 40 in a workweek
• 1.5× for the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek
• 2× for hours over 12 in a workday, and over 8 on the seventh consecutive day

Overtime is based on your regular rate of pay, which must include non-discretionary bonuses, commissions, shift differentials, and similar pay, not just your hourly wage. Many cities and counties set minimum wages above the state rate, and certain industries such as fast food and health care have their own higher minimums.

Are you really "exempt"?

Being paid a salary does not by itself make you exempt from overtime. To be exempt under California's executive, administrative, or professional exemptions, an employee generally must:

• Earn a monthly salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, and
• Spend more than half of their working time performing genuinely exempt duties, and
• Customarily and regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment.

Job titles don't matter. Assistant managers who spend most of their day running a register or stocking shelves, "coordinators" who follow set procedures, and many inside sales and IT support roles are frequently misclassified.

Independent contractor misclassification

California uses the ABC test (Labor Code § 2775, codifying Dynamex). A worker is presumed to be an employee unless the business proves all three of these:

1. The worker is free from the company's control and direction in performing the work;
2. The work is outside the usual course of the company's business; and
3. The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade or business.

Misclassified workers can recover unpaid overtime, breaks, expense reimbursement, and penalties, and willful misclassification carries additional civil penalties (Labor Code § 226.8).

Meal and rest breaks

• Meal periods (Labor Code § 512): a 30-minute, uninterrupted, duty-free meal break starting before the end of the fifth hour of work, and a second before the end of the tenth hour. You must be relieved of all duty and free to leave.
• Rest periods: a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked or major fraction thereof, as close to the middle of each work period as practical. You can't be required to stay on call during a rest break.
• Premium pay (Labor Code § 226.7): for each workday a compliant meal period is missed, one extra hour of pay; and one additional hour for each day a rest break is missed. The premium must be paid at the regular rate of compensation, including bonuses and commissions (Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, 2021).

Other common wage violations

• Off-the-clock work: pre-shift setup, post-shift closing, security and bag checks, logging in to computers, mandatory meetings, or answering calls and texts after hours
• Time rounding: after Camp v. Home Depot (2024), employers who can capture exact time worked generally must pay for all of it
• Unreimbursed expenses: employers must reimburse necessary business expenses, including mileage, personal cell phone use, tools, and uniforms (Labor Code § 2802)
• Inaccurate wage statements: pay stubs must show hours, rates, deductions, and other required information (Labor Code § 226)
• Late final pay: wages are due immediately on termination and within 72 hours of quitting without notice (Labor Code §§ 201, 202). Late payment triggers up to 30 days of waiting-time penalties (§ 203).
• Accrued vacation: earned vacation is wages and can't be forfeited; "use it or lose it" policies are unlawful (Labor Code § 227.3).
• Tips: tips belong to employees, and managers and owners can't share in them (Labor Code § 351)
• Reporting-time and split-shift pay required under the IWC Wage Orders
• Day of rest: employees are entitled to one day's rest in seven (Labor Code § 552)
• Paid sick leave that isn't provided or properly paid (Labor Code § 246)

Class actions and PAGA

Wage violations are often built into a company's policies, which means many employees are affected the same way. Two tools let workers address company-wide violations:

• Class actions (Code Civ. Proc. § 382): recover unpaid wages, premiums, and penalties on behalf of a group of similarly affected employees.
• The Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA, Labor Code § 2698 et seq.): an employee acts on behalf of the State to recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations affecting the workforce. A PAGA claim begins with written notice to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and the employer. Under 2024 reforms, the employee must have personally experienced the violations alleged within the one-year limitations period, and a larger share of penalties now goes to affected employees. After Adolph v. Uber Technologies (2023), an employee who must arbitrate individual claims can still pursue representative PAGA claims in court.

Examples of company-wide practices that often support class or PAGA claims include rounding time-clock punches, classifying an entire job title as exempt, routinely missed meal breaks at a location, failing to reimburse mileage or phone use, leaving bonuses out of the overtime rate, unpaid security checks, and wage statements that omit required information across the workforce.

What you can recover

• Unpaid wages and overtime with interest
• Meal and rest break premiums
• Liquidated damages equal to unpaid minimum wages (Labor Code § 1194.2)
• Waiting-time penalties of up to 30 days' wages (§ 203)
• Wage statement penalties of up to $4,000 per employee (§ 226)
• Unreimbursed expenses with interest
• PAGA civil penalties
• Attorney fees and costs, which wage laws typically shift to the employer

Deadlines

• Most Labor Code wage claims: three years (Code Civ. Proc. § 338).
• Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200): can extend recovery of unpaid wages to four years.
• Wage statement penalties: one year.
• PAGA: one year, plus the 65-day notice period.

Because each pay period has its own clock, older wages drop out of reach every week you wait.

How to document a wage claim

1. Keep your own record of hours, including start and end times, breaks taken and missed, and off-the-clock tasks. A simple notes app or calendar works.
2. Save every pay stub and photograph schedules, time-clock records, and posted policies.
3. Request your payroll and time records in writing (Labor Code §§ 226, 1174). Employers must respond within 21 days for payroll records.
4. Track expenses such as mileage and phone use, with dates and business purpose.
5. Note coworkers affected by the same policies. That can support a class or PAGA claim.
6. Act promptly. Older pay periods fall outside the limitations period every week.

How your case works with us

Most employees have never hired a lawyer before. Here's what working with us looks like, from the first call to resolution.

1. Free, confidential consultation. We listen to what happened, review any documents you have, and tell you honestly whether you have a claim, which laws apply, and which deadlines matter.
2. Investigation. We gather your personnel file, payroll records, and communications, identify witnesses, and request records your employer is legally required to provide.
3. Agency filings, when required. For claims under FEHA, we file with the California Civil Rights Department and obtain a right-to-sue notice so your case can proceed in court.
4. Demand and negotiation. Many cases resolve through a demand letter, early negotiation, or mediation, without a trial.
5. Litigation, if needed. If your employer won't do right by you, we file suit and are prepared to take the case through discovery and trial or arbitration.

Fees. Most employment cases are handled on a contingency basis. You pay no attorney fees unless we recover money for you, and many California employment laws require the employer to pay your attorney fees if you win.