San Bernardino Wage & Hour Class Action Lawyer

San Bernardino Wage & Hour Class Action Lawyer

As California employers, employers in San Bernardino are required to follow various state and federal laws pertaining to employee compensation. When employers violate these laws, these incidents form the basis for wage and hour claims.

While it’s possible for such a case to involve a single employee, it is also possible for class actions to form involving multiple employees. An experienced San Bernardino wage and hour class action attorney is essential in this type of case.

Representing Class Action Wage and Hour Cases in San Bernardino, CA

The attorneys at Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh, LLP, have years of professional experience resolving complex wage and hour disputes in San Bernardino, including both single-claimant cases and class actions with multiple claimants.

Whenever multiple individuals have similar legal problems with the same party, such as multiple employees of a single employer who has broken the law, a class action may be appropriate.

If you believe that you have grounds to file a wage and hour claimagainst an employer in San Bernardino, a class action offers several advantages over a standard individual claim. However, you may need to find trustworthy legal counsel to succeed with the case.

The attorneys at Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh, LLP, have the professional resources and experience needed to resolve the most challenging wage and hour class action suits in San Bernardino.

Our firm focuses on employment law and has successfully resolved many past cases on behalf of San Bernardino clients involving wage and hour claims.

These cases often involve missed or unpaid rest and meal breaks, minimum wage violations, and unpaid overtime. We excel at accurately calculating our clients’ owed unpaid compensation and will do everything we can to help secure the money your employer owes.

Most Common Wage and Hour Violations Committed by Employers

Wage and hour violations happen whenever an employer fails or refuses to pay an employee correctly for the time the employee has worked. These cases may also pertain to failure to pay penalties associated with previous violations of an employee’s rights to fair pay, such as not permitting legally required meal and rest breaks.

California enforces some of the most robust employee protection laws in the country, enabling affected employees to seek legal recourse from employers who have broken state or federal wage and hour laws. However, taking full advantage of these options for legal recourse may require the help of an experienced attorney.

Some of the most common types of wage and hour violations reported in the San Bernardino area include:

• Minimum wage violations. The state minimum wage is much higher than the federal minimum wage. Currently, for 2023, the minimum wage is $15.50 per hour, and this is set to increase to $16 per hour in 2024. Employees in specific industries have higher minimum wage requirements, and any violation of these requirements can lead to a wage and hour claim.
• Employee misclassification. California’s wage and hour laws pertain to different types of employees and the form of their compensation. For example, an employer has different requirements for paying an independent contractor as compared to payinga full-time employee, and many employers have intentionally misclassified their employees to skirt these compensation requirements.
• Unpaid overtime. Under state law, an employee must be paid at 1.5 times of the usual hourly rate for any work hours beyond regular hours. Overtime work means any hours worked past 40 hours in one week, past eight hours in a single day, or after seven or more days in a row without a day off. Unpaid overtime claims are some of the most common wage and hour disputes filed each year.
• Meal and rest break violations. Employers are required to provide employees with breaks after working for a certain amount of time. Typical requirements include the right to a rest break for every four hours or a major fraction of time thereof and a meal break for every five hours of work unless specifically stated otherwise in a written agreement pertaining to a shift of less than six hours.
• Working off the clock. An employer may not coerce an employee to perform any work-related duties before clocking in for a shift or after clocking out after completing the shift. Employers may claim that overtime is not authorized for certain types of work or offer similar excuses, but the bottom line is that an employer must compensate an employee for all the time the employee spends working.

While it is possible for any type of wage and hour dispute to involve a single employee, it is common for multiple employees to face the same type of mistreatment from the same employer. If multiple employees all experience similar issues with the same employer, it can form grounds for a class action suit.

If you believe you and/or other employees have been subjected to intentional violations of the state’s wage and hour laws, an experienced San Bernardino wage and hour class action attorney can review the details of your situation and advise you as to whether you have grounds for a case.

Benefits of Filing a Class Action Wage and Hour Claim in San Bernardino

Whenever an employer’s pay policies violate the law, or when there is a pattern of wage and hour violations affecting many employees, it can form grounds for a class action claim against the employer.

If you believe you are involved in any such situation, it is worth taking time to discuss your concerns with other coworkers who have been similarly affected. Your coworkers may have already considered exploring legal recourse on their own.

In a class action wage and hour claim, a single plaintiff or group of plaintiffs bring a suit against an employer on behalf of themselves and/or coworkers who have experienced similar wage and hour violations.

This class action claim seeks compensation for all members of the group of affected employees, and a single plaintiff may act as a class representative. The class representative has a duty to act in the best interests of the group, not just themselves.

The class representative will act on behalf of all affected coworkers, and some may qualify for additional compensation to reflect their individual efforts made on behalf of the group. These decisions are left to the discretion of the court.

Ultimately, the greatest benefit to pursuing a class action claim is that it allows a group of workers to collectively seek compensation for smaller amounts of money that, individually, would not be worth pursuing on an individual basis.

Class action suits also allow the attorney representing the case to allocate time and resources more efficiently. Because there are many similar violations within a class action claim, an attorney may have a much easier time compiling the core elements of the case than the attorney would face if handling multiple similar claims for multiple individual plaintiffs. While these cases may take longer than individual cases, they are ultimately more efficient.

A class action suit is a powerful tool for San Bernardino workers to address wage and hour violations effectively. If you believe you and your coworkers have grounds for such a claim, it is worth taking time to speak with a San Bernardino wage and hour class action attorney to see if you can obtain help.

Compensation Available From a Wage and Hour Class Action in San Bernardino

The main goal of a wage and hour class action claim is to secure compensation for affected employees’ unpaid wages. The types of compensation the plaintiffs may seek in a class action claim can include:

• Unpaid work time, such as time your employer coerced you to work during breaks or while off the clock.
• Unpaid overtime.
• Premiums for meal periods and rest periods. One hour of additional pay can be awarded for each missed meal break (up to one per workday), and one hour of additional pay can be awarded for all missed rest breaks in one day.
• Unreimbursed business expenses. If your employer requires you to pay for anything work-related, your employer is required to repay you. Reimbursable business expenses may include mileage and cell phone usage.
• Waiting time penalties, which apply to unpaid wages following separation of employment.

The team at Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh, LLP, can provide comprehensive legal counsel for wage and hour class action claims, as well as other class actions pertaining to other employment law violations in San Bernardino.

Alay person may have a difficult time understanding California employment law on their own, and while it is entirely legal to attempt self-representation for your wage and hour claim, virtually every legal advisor would strongly suggest against attempting this.

The attorneys at Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh, LLP, have years of experience navigating all the complex state and federal employment laws that pertain to your impending case, and we also have the civil procedure experience to know what you will need to accomplish to prove your case.

Our experienced San Bernardino wage and hour class action lawyers can carefully evaluate your claim, determine its potential value, and assist you in securing a positive outcome for your case.

If you are ready to learn what a seasoned team of attorneys can do for your wage and hour class action claim, contact Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh, LLP, today and schedule your free case review with a San Bernardino wage and hour class action lawyer.