Wage and Hour

Since the 1920s, Culver City has been a center for motion picture production. Many movies and television shows have been produced in studios in the city, and the city’s streets have been featured in television shows such as The Wonder Years. The city serves as headquarters for many corporations, including the storied Sony Pictures Studios. Its estimated population was nearly 40,000 as of 2019. If you work for a company located in Culver City, your employer must abide by certain employment laws, including federal and state wage and hour laws that cover minimum wage, overtime, and meal and rest breaks. If you are involved in a wage and hour dispute, you should discuss your situation with a seasoned Culver City wage and hour lawyer at the Calderone Law Firm.

The primary federal wage and hour law is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). California also has its own wage and hour laws, which are applied when they are more protective of employees. Because California wage and hour laws only cover employees, independent contractors are not protected by these laws. Anybody who renders service to an employer is presumed to be an employee. Certain factors are weighed to determine whether a worker is a legitimate independent contractor.

Employers may commit wage and hour violations that involve misclassification of employees as independent contractors, misclassification of employees as exempt from wage and hour requirements, failure to pay minimum wage, failure to pay overtime, requiring off-the-clock work, and failure to provide requisite meal and rest breaks. If you believe that your employer has wrongfully classified you as an independent contractor or has paid you less than minimum wage, schedule an appointment with our wage and hour attorney in Culver City.

On January 1, 2021, California increased the minimum wage to $14.00 per hour if an employer has at least 26 employees. Employees in California must be paid at least $13.00 per hour if they work for an employer with 25 or fewer employees.

Unlike some states, California does not allow employers to take tip credits. Accordingly, employers may not deduct tips received by employees from the wages paid. However, it does allow tip pooling, which involves the combination of all tipped employees’ tips in a pool and then the redistribution of them to those who serve customers — so long as certain guidelines are followed. If a business owner or manager is skimming tips, we can help you understand your legal rights.

Under California labor law, employers need to pay 1½ times a nonexempt employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours that were worked beyond 40 in a workweek. This rate must also be paid if an employee works more than eight hours but less than 12 hours in a workday and for the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek. The overtime rate is twice the employees’ regular rate of pay for all hours greater than 12 in a workday and all hours that exceed eight on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek. A Culver City wage and hour attorney can help you assert your right to overtime pay.

Under California labor law, employers must provide employees with a meal period of at least 30 minutes if you are a nonexempt employee who works over five consecutive hours, unless you are only working six hours in total and agree to waive it. If you’re relieved of all duties during the 30-minute meal break and you’re free to leave your employer’s premises, the employer need not count those thirty minutes as hours worked. However, if that’s not the case — you have to stay at the workplace and you need to perform work tasks — your employer should pay you at the regular rate of pay for that period. Under California Labor Code section 512, an on-duty meal period is only allowed if the nature of your job stops you from being relieved of your duties and there is a written agreement between you and the employer agreeing to a meal period in which you stay on the job. Speak with our wage and hour lawyer in Culver City if your employer did not provide you with the mandated meal and rest breaks.

Under the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders, California employers must also permit nonexempt employees to take a rest period in the middle of each work period. The rest period must be 10 consecutive minutes for each four-hour work period or major fraction of it.

If you are dealing with a minimum wage or overtime dispute, contact attorney Vincent Calderone, the founder of Calderone Law Firm. He has more than two decades of experience providing tenacious legal representation to those who have wage and hour and other employment law claims. Call us at (424) 348-8290 or complete our online form.