The California Labor Code assumes that all workers are employees, not independent contractors. If an employer wishes to classify an employee as an independent contractor, they might have to apply either the ABC or Borello tests before determining the accurate...
Trusted Legal Advocacy
Wage and Hour Laws
When is hour reduction a form of retaliation?
California labor laws exist to protect employees from illegal and wrongful workplace actions, and they are necessary because California is an at-will employment state. Suppose you are an employee working in the private sector. In that case, your employer can generally...
Can your company pay you the federal minimum wage?
You take a job, knowing that it pays minimum wage, but you have bills to pay and you’re simply looking for any form of employment. You do the math and it should still be enough to help you with your budget every month. But then you get a paycheck and it is around half...
Misclassification is one major way wage theft occurs
You perform a job, and you expect to get paid fairly. Still, some employees experience wage and hour theft, and sometimes it’s hard to recognize. Misclassifying an employee is an example of wage theft that may go unnoticed. If your paycheck is consistently short, it...
What meal periods are required in California?
California is known for being an employee-friendly state. The laws in effect protect employees in a host of ways. For most workers in this state, meal periods are an important part of the workday. Employers sometimes try to skirt the law, but employees who know their...
3 warning signs of wage theft
A paycheck is one of the main reasons most people report to work every day. In fact, most people rely on their wages to put a roof over their heads and bread on their tables. As such, it makes perfect sense that you earn fair pay for your labor. However, it is not...
What would California’s “fast food” bill mean for wage disputes?
Most fast food workers are employed by franchisees – not by the corporations that we all know by name and sometimes just by their logo. That means when they have a wage dispute or other employment issue, they (or the state) must take it up with the owner of the local...
California companies: Use care with no-overtime policies
Staffing costs are a big part of why running a business is so expensive. Even if a company only offers its workers minimum wage and part-time employment to avoid benefit obligations, those wages will be a big part of its operating costs. One of the ways a company can...
Do you have a right to overtime if you receive a salary?
Worker compensation usually comes in one of two forms. Salaried workers receive the same pay every week that adds up to an annual salary regardless of how many hours they work in a specific pay period. Hourly workers may receive vastly different paychecks every time...