Wages, Hours, & Overtime in Sacramento
California Workers Are Entitled to Fair Compensation, Reasonable Hours,
& Overtime
California and federal labor and employment laws establish rules and guidelines
that employers must follow regarding how much they must pay their employees
and what hours they are permitted to allow their employees to work. These
laws and regulations grew out of a need to ensure workers were adequately
compensated for the work they performed on behalf of their employers.
An employer who fails to pay his or her employee in accordance with the
law can be the subject of a civil lawsuit brought against him or her by
the aggrieved employee.
Are you concerned that your employer may not be paying you appropriately
for the time you spend working?
Contact a Sacramento employment lawyer to have your
case evaluated. You may be entitled to compensation if your employer is violating the law.
Laws Regarding the Number of Hours Worked
So long as you are over the age of 18 and/or are no longer in school, an
employer can ask you to work as many hours per week as the employer wishes.
What is more, an employer can discipline you or terminate you if you refuse
to work overtime as directed by the employer.
However, the employer’s direction to work additional hours may be
unlawful if:
- The employer does not properly compensate you for the time you actually work
- The employer assigns you additional work in retaliation for your engaging
in legally protected activities and/or as a means of unlawfully discriminating
against you
- The employer violates any other law or regulation
You have an obligation to accurately report the actual hours you worked
to your employer, and your employer has an obligation to have policies
and procedures that enable you to accurately record your hours worked.
Laws Regarding Wages & Overtime in California
There are a variety of laws relating to the wages that employers must pay
to their employees. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes a
federal minimum wage; however, California’s minimum wage exceeds
the federal minimum wage. This means that California employers must pay
their hourly employees at least the California minimum wage. If you are
classified as a “nonexempt” employee and you work more than
40 hours in a work week and/or more than 8 hours in a day, you are entitled
to overtime pay of at least one and one-half times the employee’s
regular rate of pay.
An employer must pay you overtime pay as required by law even if the employer
did not authorize you to work overtime. Even though the employer must
pay you in accordance with wage and overtime laws, the employer may still
discipline you for any overtime policies the employer may have that you violated.
Some employers try to avoid paying their employees’ overtime by attempting
to classify their employees as “exempt.” In most cases, an
“exempt” employer is excepted from federal and state overtime
requirements. “Exempt” employees are typically highly skilled
professionals like doctors and lawyers who work with little or no supervision.
Contact my office today at 916-443-3553 to discuss your case with me.