Our firm had to recently file a lawsuit against Irvine Management Company in Orange County for failure to pay overtime wages, failure to pay wages due at separation, whistleblower retaliation, and wrongful termination.
The lawsuit alleges that our client’s supervisor forced our client to change his time sheets to show that our client did not work any overtime hours so that he would not be entitled to receive any overtime wages.
The lawsuit further alleges that our client submitted complaints to Human Resources, which resulted in him being promptly terminated.
A copy of the complaint against Irvine Management Company can be viewed here.
California law is very clear in its mandate that employees are entitled to wages for all hours worked, and it is absolutely illegal to deprive employees from any wages owed, whether it be regular hourly wages or overtime wages.
Forcing employees to falsely doctor their time sheets to deprive them of overtime wages is categorized as wage theft under California law.
And, California law also absolutely mandates that employees who lodge complaints about what they reasonably believe to be unlawful business practices are protected. If an employee is terminated within a reasonably short period of time after lodging complaints (e.g., 90 days) then there is a presumption of unlawful retaliation.
At Semnar & Hartman, we take these laws seriously and we are proud to stand up for California’s workers who are victimized by wage theft and retaliation, among other employee rights.
Please do not hesitate to contact our office for a free and confidential consultation so that we can evaluate whether your rights have been violated.