A noted California Overtime Law Attorney comments, “Employees prevailing on overtime pay claims in California do not realize that not only are they entitled to their back overtime, but the award of interest, certain penalties, as well as payment of their attorney fees. In very few areas of the law do the scales of justice tip so far in favor of the plaintiff.”
Fact #1 It’s commonplace to believe that employees paid salary are not entitled to overtime. Certain overtime exemptions contribute to this myth. With California Overtime Law, the misconception can be cleared with the proper research and advice. In reality, many employees who are paid salary are entitled overtime, and many employees who are paid hourly don’t get overtime. To find out about your particular circumstances under California Overtime Law be sure to talk to an attorney.
Fact #2 Unless one meets all of the requirements for one of the exemptions, a salaried employee is still entitled to overtime. Under the California Labor Law Overtime, the additional requirements are difficult to meet, as many individuals simply don’t meet them. It’s advisable for the individual to contact an attorney to find out if he/she is entitled to overtime pay. With California Overtime, some are under the impression that if they receive more than $99,445 annually as a computer programmer, they aren’t entitled to overtime. Based on a misunderstanding of the Computer Professional Exemption, this is absolutely wrong. There are specific requirements to be met under California Overtime laws. One of the requirements is that the employee must be paid $47.81 as of 2006, for every hour worked. The dilemma with paying a salary to computer programming employees is that the more hours worked, the more the rate of pay is decreased. In other words, paying a salary to computer programmers will nearly always result in overtime violations. To be sure if you are entitled to overtime, be sure to consult with a California Overtime Pay lawyer.
The California Overtime Pay Attorney adds, “I am litigating many California Computer and IT class action cases and the recurring theme is that the employer paid a high salary and either assumed the employee was exempt or intentionally misclassified them as exempt. In either case, there have been multi-million dollar settlements awarded in California.”
California Labor Law: Overtime to Live By
Fact #3 The important thing to remember with overtime law is if you make a salary of $99,445 as an IT or Computer Professional annually doesn’t mean you are instantly entitled to overtime. Only if you don’t meet any requirements will you be entitled to overtime. Another misconception is if you supervise two people, you are exempt. One of the requirements for what’s known as Executive Exemption is that you must supervise no less than 2 employees. The California Overtime Law has been regularly interpreted to discover that supervising only two employees would rarely require sufficient supervisory time to satisfy this exemption. Only true executives of the firm will qualify for Executive Exemption. To find out if you qualify for overtime be sure to talk to an attorney.
When an employer is sued by an employee for unpaid overtime pay, a likely outcome if the employee wins is that they will have to pay the back overtime, interest, penalties as well as their own, and the employees attorney fees.
Several California Overtime regulations and laws have been enacted which can help with the overtime claim. The overtime laws not only include going after additional monies for penalties, but forcing the employer to pay attorney fees if you win.