The employment laws in California have various legal provisions to safeguard the rights of employees. That includes ensuring that they receive proper compensation for the amount of work they do. If your employer requires you to work more than the regular eight hours a day or 40 hours a week, they must pay you for the overtime hours you put in. A failure to do so on their part amounts to wage theft, and you are entitled to take legal action against them to recover the compensation they owe you.

It might be a good idea to search online for “overtime lawyer Los Angeles” and consult a competent lawyer if you are in a situation where your employer is not compensating you for your work or giving less compensation than you deserve.

Understanding the overtime law in California

If you work in California and are a non-exempt employee, your employer has to pay you one and a half times your regular pay for any overtime work you do. As already mentioned, working more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week counts as overtime work. Working for eight hours on the seventh consecutive workday in one workweek is also overtime. If you work more than 12 hours a day or more than eight hours on the seventh consecutive workday in one workweek, you are entitled to receive twice your regular pay.

To understand how this works, let us assume that you earn $14 per hour at your job. So, when you work the regular eight hours a day, your payment is $14 x 8 = $112. If you work for four hours longer, it becomes overtime work, and your overtime compensation is $14 x 1.5 x 4 = $84. If you work for two hours more, that is more than 12 hours, and you get double pay. That is $14 x 2 x 2 = $56. So, you have worked a 14-hour day and received $252 in total compensation.

Safeguarding your rights as an employee

To make sure that your employer is not engaging in wage theft and that you are receiving the compensation you are due, you can do the following:

• Track your daily work hours and maintain a record of when you start work, take breaks and leave.

• Keep an accurate record of all the extra hours you work for your employer.

• Check if your record matches the employer’s on the payment stub.

• If the employer’s record is incorrect and they owe you wages, inform them at once. In case it is a genuine error or oversight, they may correct it and pay the proper compensation as soon as possible.

If they are deliberately withholding your overtime pay, you can contact the Labor Commissioner’s office and file a claim to get the wages. You can also run a search for “overtime lawyer Los Angeles” and consult a knowledgeable lawyer.

• File your claim as soon as possible, preferably within three years, since there can be legal time limits for filing claims. You will also have a better chance of proving your employer has not paid you when you file the claim immediately.

Worried about retaliation from your employer?

Many employees hesitate to take legal action for fear of retaliation, but the California employment laws protect you from any illegal acts on the part of your employer. They cannot retaliate against you for asserting your rights and asking for overtime pay or filing a legal claim to get the overtime pay. They cannot threaten you, fire you, give you undesirable work or shifts, or prevent you from finding another employment.

Hiring an overtime lawyer

When it comes to hiring an overtime lawyer Los Angeles based employees can get recommendations from family and friends or search online to find a competent and experienced attorney. You can visit their website to get an idea about the types of cases they handle, their educational qualifications and legal experience, and to contact them to schedule a consultation. Many lawyers offer a free initial consultation during which they will assess your case and decide if you have the grounds to take legal action against your employer for not paying you the proper overtime.