Santa Barbara County

Santa Barbara County, with a population of 448,229 as of the 2020 census, is located mostly on the central coast in Southern California. The county’s economy relies on software development, tourism, engineering, agriculture, education, manufacturing wine, and resource extraction. Large employers include University of California, Santa Barbara, Curvature, Allergan Medical, Partners Personnel, and Yardi. If you are concerned about your employer’s actions concerning minimum wage, overtime, discrimination, harassment, retaliation or whistleblowing, give the trustworthy Santa Barbara employment attorneys of Calderone Law Firm a call. Our principal Vincent Calderone has many years of experience that can be put to work for you.

Your employer should pay you according to legal requirements spelled out under federal, state, and local laws. The group governed by the strongest laws when it comes to issues of compensation and exploitation are nonexempt workers. Employers are expected to follow strict and sometimes intricate rules in connection with minimum wage, overtime, uniforms, and meal and rest breaks. Generally speaking, nonexempt employees are paid on an hourly basis and cannot control how they perform tasks on an employer’s behalf. Nonexempt employees and gig workers have more control about how they do their work, but do not receive wage and hour protections. It’s important to be aware that there are situations in which a company misclassifies its workers in order to avoid the rigor of wage and hour laws or to avoid providing other things like workers’ compensation coverage. It’s crucial to consult counsel rather than assume you’ve been classified correctly, if you suspect you’re not being paid fairly.

If the potential damages in your case are minimal at the outset, it may be appropriate for us to pursue damages in a class action lawsuit. These are lawsuits in which employees experiencing similar mistreatment (such as being asked to work off the clock) join together to bring a class action suit

It can be terrifying to blow the whistle on your employer’s misconduct or illegal activity. Whether they are improperly billing the government and making false claims, or asking you to commit crimes or regulatory violations, employers should be held accountable, and sometimes the only people in a position to do that are their employees. Many people don’t have the financial wherewithal to take risks with their jobs. However, there are both state and federal statutes enacted to protect whistleblowing employees against retaliation and allow for other forms of relief. California Labor Code section 1102.5 is most commonly asserted; this laws specifies that your employer is not allowed to retaliate against you because you report what you reasonably believe are your employer’s violations to authorities.

Workers should not be confronted with discrimination in the job application process or on the job. Discrimination exists if your employer has taken an adverse employment action against you because of your sex, race, national origin, religion, color, or disability, among other traits protected under federal laws or the more expansive California Fair Employment Housing Act (FEHA). If our attorneys are able to establish your employer’s liability, we may be able to recover items of damage such as compensation for past and future wage loss, out-of-pocket costs, and emotional distress. In cases of egregious misconduct by an employer trying to bury several supervisors’ sexual assaults of an employee and firing the employee rather than terminating the supervisors, it may be appropriate to seek punitive damages.

The lawyers you choose can have a big impact on your employment law dispute. We handle the full range of employment law matters, including wage and hour, employment discrimination, and whistleblower retaliation. Call the Santa Barbara County lawyers of Calderone Law Firm to determine your legal options for relief. We are strong advocates for workers in need of sharp strategies and representation to obtain the best possible legal outcome to their case. Fill out our online form or call us at (424) 348-8290 for a free initial consultation.