It's Your Work and it Should be Your Pay Too
It's your work and it should be your pay too. At Working Law Group, we protect your right to earned compensation, including things like unpaid overtime pay, unpaid travel time and mileage, unpaid (or improperly paid) commissions, and missed meals and breaks. Our Ventura, California, law firm educates workers about their rights and the various options for remedies, and, if necessary, represents California workers by bringing wage and hour claims in court.
When Overtime Begins
Many California workers are eligible for overtime, even if they are paid on a salary basis. If you are eligible for overtime, it does not matter if your pay is based on piece rate, commission, or something else. Even people who are paid minimum wage may be eligible to be paid overtime.
Whether you are entitled to overtime depends on many different factors. (These fill a notebook of about 150 pages of dense legal language!) And the law applies differently to different jobs:
- Truck drivers: Unfortunately, there is no general rule for truck drivers because whether or not you get overtime depends if your rig is regulated by DOT or CHP, if you drive across state lines, and the size and type of the rig you drive.
- Field workers: Some field workers should get overtime after working eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Unfortunately, most field workers have to work more than 10 hours in a day or more than 60 hours in a week to get overtime. However, if you work all seven days in the same workweek, you should generally be paid "double time" after you work eight hours on the seventh day.
- Healthcare workers and others with "non-traditional" schedules: If you work a "4/10" (four days of 10 hours) or "9/80" (nine days for 80 hours), you probably should be paid time and a half for work after 10 hours and generally for working on a scheduled off day, unless you are in healthcare. Health care workers may have to work up to 12 hours before overtime kicks in.
- Everybody else (except management): Generally, you should get overtime after working eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. If you work seven days in the same workweek, you should get overtime for all the hours on the seventh work day — and just because your title is supervisor or manager, you are not necessarily management, and you may still be entitled to overtime pay.
Minimum wage in California: Nearly all California workers should be paid at least the California minimum wage for all time worked. This is true even if your pay is based on piece rate, commission, or something else. If you are not being paid minimum wage, talk with Working Law Group about your rights.
It's Your Right to Know … Talk With an Attorney
If you have questions about the law — from wage and hour disputes to wage discrimination — it's best to talk to an employment lawyer. Contact Working Law Group by calling 805-256-7461 for a free and confidential initial consultation.
