If you’re in the workforce or have been in the past, you may have experience some sort of labor law violations without even being aware.
You probably already know what the basic labor laws are in the state.
Chances are you know that for non-exempt employees, anything worked over eight hours is overtime, which is pay one and one-half times regular pay.
But did you know anything worked over 12 hours a day, or for anything worked over eight hours on the seventh day, is double the regular rate?
As surprising as it may seem to some, there are many people in the workforce that aren’t aware of this laws.
One of the most common labor law violations employers attempt to get away with, at least from my own experience, is overtime as they might attempt to deny it to employees, depending on whether you’re full or part time.
In some cases, employers don’t pay overtime for anything worked over eight hours as they say over 40 hours a week is required to receive overtime pay.
Yes, under Federal law employers are required to pay overtime after 40 hours worked a week, but under the state law of California there is also daily over time, which covers overtime for more than eight hours worked a day.
The only case this isn’t applied to is if the company you work for has adopted an alternative workweek scheduled.
According to California Labor Code 511, it’s any regularly scheduled workweek requiring an employee to work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period that can’t exceed 10 hours a day or 40 hours a week.
Perhaps it’s easy for employers to step over these laws every so often if employees don’t know it’s happening, or maybe it is easy for them to target younger employees as our time in the workforce is limited, as well as our knowledge about labor laws.
If you are or have previously been in a situation at work where you know your employer didn’t pay you overtime for the extra hours work, or your full earned wage and you aren’t an exempt employee or working an alternative workweek schedule, know that it’s your right to get compensated the amount stated by law.
First, talk to your employer. Address the issue and if he or she still declines to pay your proper earned wage, then file a wage claim or file a lawsuit, but don’t let employers get away with corruption.
The majority of college students who work are working in places where we’re already earning the minimum, yet many employers want to get away without paying us what we have already worked for and expect us to agree when they asked us to work extra hours.
If you put your time, work, effort and are even sacrificing a huge portion of your days and hours trying to earn money for your needs and expenses while going to college and earning the minimum, employers shouldn’t be getting away with corruption.
Speak up and take action!
