Professional Service News
California Labor Law Attorney Helps Terminated Employee Win Appeal
"Due to the economy, there was much less work in my industry. I'm an appliance installer for big department stores such as Lowell's, so we typically pick up handyman plumbing work on the side," James explains.
"We never had a contract with Superior stating that this was against the rules. Our employee handbook mentioned nothing about conflict of interest.
"One Saturday, which is my day off, my friend Carol called to ask if I could fix her dishwasher leak. Carol had already called Lowe's, where she bought the dishwasher, but no luck. I suggested she call my company but they didn't return her call, so I helped??"as a friend, not as an employee of Superior or Lowe's.
"After I fixed the leak I noticed that her faucet was corroded. 'Sometime down the road you might want to replace it,' I told Carol. 'James, since you're here, please go ahead, and I'll pay for your time,' she said. I was reluctant, but she needed it done.
"To make a long story short, Curtis, the owner of Superior, found out. When I phoned Superior about my next job, I was asked to bring in my uniform because I was terminated. Curtis mentioned the faucet, but I knew it was more than that. For the past month there had been issues between us.
"Curtis had fired Shannon, a co-worker of mine, without just cause. I am a shareholder in the company, which means I was entitled to vote on whether Shannon should be fired. But I was on vacation, and they had a stalemate on the vote. When I came back to work they had to re-vote. Shannon is on medical leave, so how can he be fired? Curtis said he wasn't doing good work, but I didn't think it was right, so I voted 'no.'
"This decision created a rift between us; he just used the faucet incident to justify my termination.
"It was almost a relief to get fired because he was causing me so much grief. Then I filed for unemployment insurance and was denied. Turns out that Curtis filed a letter with unemployment saying that I had stolen money??"relating to the faucet incident. So I filed an appeal.
"Meanwhile, I had been job hunting for a few months??"I had no income and became desperate. I applied at Pacific Express, one of our competitors, and he hired me. But Curtis continued to haunt me. I know this is complicated, but in a nutshell, Curtis complained about me to Lowe's, which does business with Pacific Express. Lowe's put the pressure on Pacific Express to fire me.
"My attorney came over to Carol's house with me and drafted a letter regarding the faucet incident; Carol wrote that she insisted that I get compensated for my time. The judge reversed the decision and I got unemployment benefits dating back three months.
"My lawyer is now investigating the role that Lowe's had in my termination because I didn't work for that company.
"When you leave a job and have any qualms about an employee that should be the end of it. Instead, Curtis holds a grudge against me and wants retaliation for his own satisfaction. As it happens, Superior is closing. I can't say that I feel sorry for Curtis. He fired me almost a year ago so I had to pick up my W2, a record of my earnings and tax deductions. Curtis told me he mailed it weeks ago but I never got it??"yet another violation of the California labor law. Obviously his ship is going down but he still wants to make my life difficult."
Bounced Checks don't bode well with California Labor Law
"Our checks are always short," says Eddie. "Recently one paycheck I got was short $300??"that's around 7 or 8 hours of work--and my co-worker was shorted 15 hours just last week. We keep asking the boss if everything is OK and he assures us that everything is fine; that we are just in a crisis right now due to this recession." But even in these hard economic times, employers can still be fined if they violate California labor employment laws.
Eddie is a motorcycle mechanic and works on commission only, but he has a choice: he can either get paid minimum wage or commission??"whichever is greater. However, he should be getting an hourly wage because he provides his own tools. "The last place I worked at was fined for not giving the commission technicians their minimum wage," Eddie says. "That was in 1999 and our minimum wage was $19 per hour. One of my co-workers looked up our wage this year and it is anywhere from $18 to $23, depending upon how long you have been in the industry.
"I think my current employer should also be fined and penalized for not complying with the California labor laws. We have talked to him about this issue and he just says 'Don't worry' or he will blame it on his CPA??"the accountant who does our payroll. But this has been going on since last October when he fired everyone in HR. This company employed 134 workers but now we are down to 40 employees. Ninety people have been laid off due to the economy. We are holding on with a skeleton staff??"they look at us as commission technicians and if work doesn't come in, we don't get paid. I also know co-workers in the parts department who have gone 3 months without their bonus checks; nobody knows how long they can hold on for.
Sometimes we've gone home with 40 hours of pay for a two-week period and a lot of the time we are here 6 days a week waiting for someone to bring their bike in for repair. We are supposed to get paid idle time if nothing comes in but that's not getting paid. We are also supposed to get paid if we clean up the shop or do any maintenance in the shop??"of course we don't get paid for that either.
Two brothers own this corporation. One of the owners came by and let us know last Friday that they were giving up on two of the brands??"Suzuki and BRP. This means that we have two less brands to work on??"the future of my job is looking pretty bleak.
Last month the owners were supposed to give us 30 days notice of any payday change. They never did. The California labor law states that within 30 days prior to a payday change, the employer is supposed to post the new payday change in a prominent location where everyone can see it.
If it is money the owners need to pay, they'll hide from you. My boss is constantly hunting them down. Apparently it is hard to find the owners because they switched offices in another location and we don't even have their phone number. The only way to get in touch with them is through our boss who will email the owners and then he has to wait for a reply.
I'm not the smartest guy in the industry but right now I have a way out??"I have another job lined up. So I'm just waiting to find out if my next check bounces. It doesn't make sense that our checks bounce because we get paid from commission??"if we make $30 per hour, the owners are making $45 per hour. They make good money off us??"it's not that they don't have the money to pay us--they are just bad business people.
Our next step is to file a complaint with the California state labor board and then seek legal help."
California Car Wash Takes its Employees to the Cleaners
Such is the case in Los Angeles, after 60 workers at a Redondo Beach car wash will receive almost a half million dollars in back wages after they were stiffed by their employer. The California Labor Commissioner brought a lawsuit against the employer on the workers' behalf, and a settlement was reached November 19th.
Sometimes, the little guy gets his due. And in this case, the little guy wouldn't have had much to start with, before the employer began to take away even that.
At the center of the investigation was the Bruno Scherrer Corporation, doing business as the Hollywood Riviera. After starting an investigation in October of 2006, the Office of the California Labor Commissioner found that the Hollywood Riviera would pay their employees minimum scale for as little as 3, or 4 hours of work??"only to require them to finish out their day with pay from tips only. For some employees, this would amount to half their day working for tips.
It was also alleged that beyond shorting their employees on their earnings, the employer failed to properly record, and keep accurate records of an employee's work hours.
"Employees must be fully paid for all hours that they work," said Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet. "Businesses are required by law to keep accurate records showing when the employee begins and ends each work shift and properly compensate for those hours.
"Clearly this case reveals a deplorable situation where employees were being taken advantage of by not being paid their proper wage," said Bradstreet. "This case is an excellent example of why we register carwash companies in California."
The California Labor Commissioner filed a lawsuit against Hollywood Riviera in Los Angeles Superior Court, on behalf of the 60 workers, in September of last year. They stand to collect $450,000 in unpaid wages, as a result of the successful litigation.
The California Labor Commissioner, and other commentators familiar with the case, agree that the case represented a blatant violation of minimum wage laws??"and specifically AB 1688, a Bill passed by the California State Legislature in 2003 that granted a registration system for all car wash and polishing enterprises.
California Labor Code sections 2050-2067 addresses the car was and polishing industry, and is known collectively as the Car Wash Worker Law. Its very existence provides protection for employees of the car wash and polishing industry against the actions of unscrupulous employers.
And there are some nasty violations out there that go beyond illegal cash pay. Failure to provide adequate worker's compensation is another oft-cited violation, and officials often see child labor violations at car wash and polishing enterprises. Sure, the kid wants some pocket coin. He'll do the work for tips, or for a couple of bucks in his jeans. He's glad for the cash, and hey who's gonna know? Better than the kid being on the street. We'll put him to work…
Sorry, but that doesn't cut it. There are laws and statutes, and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement adjudicates various violations in the area of wage claims, discrimination and various other complaints??"and more importantly enforces State labor law and Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders.
In short, there are various checks and balances in play to ensure that employers refrain from flaunting California labor laws, and taking their already low-paid workers completely to the cleaners. California state labor laws ensure that you can't do what Hollywood Riviera was accused of doing, an accusation that appears as fact after the employer, following the California State labor law investigation, agreed to cough up $450,000 to be split amongst its 60 workers. A nice Christmas present indeed.
"Referring to my Weight is a California Labor Law Violation"
"This new owner removed the gate because 'it didn't have to be there' and he also said that if I properly supervised my children, a gate wouldn't be required," says Loretta. He created a hostile work environment for Loretta from that day forward and worse...
"I properly look after the children; they are my responsibility and I do a good job," says Loretta. "To be honest, I have never had this much trouble with a job in my life. The previous owner gave me a letter of recommendation and she gave a copy to the new owner.
He is very rude--another incident happened. I was talking to a parent and without thinking, I sat down on the table, still talking. He came into the room and yelled at me, in front of the parents. ' It is unprofessional to sit on the table and you can break it, do you have $300 to repair it? He was alluding to the fact that I am overweight. He told me that he would take $300 out of my paycheck if I break the table. I don't think he can do that.
'You are going to break the leg of the table,' he said again. I waited until the parent left, already after hours. I took aside the sight director, a co-worker in charge of staffing, and the owner. I explained to him that he was unprofessional and rude and that if he had a problem with my work, he should have taken me aside.
He then told me that he is the boss and he is the one who signs the checks. 'Aside from the fact that you are the owner, don't disrespect me in front of parents,' I said.
Again, he reiterated that he is the boss and I have to do things his way.
It's not going to work his way. He said that nothing negative should ever come out of my mouth so I walked out. I told my co-worker that I cannot work under these conditions and I quit--I am still so stressed out with this guy.
I have been working at day care centers for 14 years and I've never had a problem with anyone. I have never walked off a job. I am in contact with my co-workers and they agree that he is rude. He installed sliding locks on all the doors to prevent children from getting into the classrooms. I couldn't unlock it; I had to get a can opener to pry it up so it would unlock. What if there was a fire? What if someone got sick? We would be in trouble.
I asked one of the women who works there if that issue was ever addressed. But the new owner told her, If the door is locked, the parents need to knock on the door to be let in.' But what about getting out? What if it gets stuck again?
I'm not the only one he has shown his temper to. He has anger management issues. I just want this man to know that I have rights and he cannot talk to me this way; if you are going to continue talking to people this way, it is never going to work, especially in a childcare facility. And what about the kids? My first priority is to protect the children under my care and the second is to protect my rights.
What bothers me the most is that I had to walk away from these children not knowing what is going to happen to them. I am so emotionally distressed and can't do anything for them now. I filed for unemployment but they don' t know if they can grant it to me because I quit. I'm out every day looking for another job but the bills are piling up, which is stressing me out even more. It isn't fair that I can't get unemployment.
I have sent an email to a co-worker at the center and to the childcare licensing center, voicing my concern about this man and his new safety installations and more.
I also have a letter from one of the co-workers regarding regulations that are going on. She reiterated the same issues that I had; the fire extinguisher was removed and she found it on toddler bathroom floor. Nice! She also said she has a hard time working with him due to his short temper and he has openly chastised her in front of staff and parents.
I don't know what I can do to change things but I would hope that it doesn't continue this way. He has created a very unhealthy environment for the children and the staff. Six other workers are looking for another job that I know of. I would really like this guy to get a talking to! At least understand that creating a hostile environment and discriminating against an employee because of her weight is a violation of the California Labor Law."
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