Masjedian Law Firm · Employment
Wage & Hour Violations
Overtime, breaks, minimum wage, final paychecks — California’s wage laws are the nation’s strongest, and violations quietly compound into serious money.
Overtime, breaks, minimum wage, final paychecks — California’s wage laws are the nation’s strongest, and violations quietly compound into serious money.
Wage theft rarely looks like theft. It looks like “we don’t pay overtime, you’re salaried,” like clocking out before the closing work is done, like lunch eaten at the register, like a final paycheck that arrives weeks late. Under California law each of these is a violation with real penalties attached — and they add up fast across months and years.
The core rights. Non-exempt employees earn overtime at 1.5x after 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week, and 2x after 12 in a day. A 30-minute unpaid meal break must begin before the end of the fifth hour, plus paid 10-minute rest breaks per 4 hours worked — each missed break owes an extra hour of pay. All hours worked must be paid, including off-the-clock tasks, donning time, and required travel between sites.
Misclassification is the master violation. Calling someone “salaried exempt” or an “independent contractor” doesn’t make it lawful — exemption depends on duties and salary tests, and contractor status is judged under the strict ABC test (Labor Code § 2775). Misclassified workers are typically owed years of overtime, break premiums, and expense reimbursement (§ 2802 — including personal phone and mileage).
Penalties stack. Late final wages accrue waiting time penalties — a full day’s wages per day, up to 30 days (§ 203). Defective pay stubs carry their own penalties (§ 226). Interest and attorney’s fees ride on top, and claims generally reach back three years (four under the UCL).
Why this firm. These cases are documents-and-math cases: time records, schedules, pay stubs, and testimony. We build the spreadsheet the Labor Commissioner or the court will actually credit — and employers pay attention when the math is right.
Not by itself. Exemption requires both a qualifying salary level and genuinely exempt duties (executive, administrative, or professional). Salaried employees doing primarily non-exempt work are owed overtime despite the label.
One additional hour of pay for each workday a compliant meal break was missed, and another for each day a rest break was missed — up to two premium hours per day, reaching back years.
Under California’s ABC test you are an employee unless the hirer proves you are free from its control, doing work outside its usual business, and independently established in that trade. Most “contractors” working inside a company’s core business are misclassified employees owed wages, overtime, and expenses.
Yes — willfully late final wages accrue a penalty of a full day’s pay for each day late, up to 30 days, on top of the wages themselves. Combined with other violations it is frequently substantial.
Generally three years for statutory wage claims, and up to four years for restitution under California’s Unfair Competition Law. The clock runs continuously — waiting costs money.
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