Construction Industry Labor Law Violations

Businesses involved in the construction industry regularly cheat workers out of all of the wages and benefits they are entitled to under California state labor laws and federal employment laws. Whether they are engaged in the activities of new construction or reconstruction, the repair or renovation of existing commercial or residential structures, as well as roadway and bridge construction, construction workers have labor rights and the law on their side.

Construction workers typically perform job duties such as painting, sandblasting, tuckpointing, roofing, guttering, spouting, water well drilling, installation of flooring and landscaping. Employers in California often times attempt to cheat these construction workers out of their wages and benefits in the following manners:

·         Failing to record all hours actually worked to include time spent working before or after the shift

·         Shorting hours by using terms such as down time or rain delay

·         Failing to compensate for meal breaks where the employee is not completely relieved of all duties to enjoy uninterrupted time for the meal

·          Banking of overtime hours or payment of overtime in the form of "comp time".

·         Failing to combine the hours worked for overtime purposes by an employee in more than one job classification for the same employer within the same workweek.

·         Failing to segregate and pay overtime hours on a workweek basis when employees are paid on a bi-weekly or semi-monthly basis.

·          Failing to pay for travel from shop to work-site and back.

At Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik, our experienced California employment law attorneys represent construction workers who have been wrongfully terminated. We also focus on helping construction workers who are victims of illegal employer practices such as retaliation, discrimination or harassment. Some employer conduct violates the state’s labor laws and employee rights. We can help you fight back, put a stop to your employers illegal activity, and help you get paid in the process.

Construction Worker Labor Law Violations? Call 866-745-2949 for Legal Advice

We are the employment law lawyers of Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik. Our labor law attorneys focus on representing construction workers throughout the entire state of California in cases of illegal employer practices such as unpaid wages, wrongful termination and retaliation. Our experienced worker rights lawyers have the resources and experience to represent construction workers throughout the entire state of California, including communities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley.

Call Center Customer Service Employees

A call center is a central customer service operation where agents (often called customer care specialists or customer service representatives) handle telephone calls for their company or on behalf of a client. Clients may include mail-order catalog houses, telemarketing companies, computer product help desks, banks, financial services and insurance groups, transportation and freight handling firms, hotels, and information technology (IT) companies. Call centers are subject to California state and federal labor laws.

Under federal and state employment laws, companies are required to keep records of the wages and hours that call center employees work. Our employment law lawyers often find that call center customer service employees do not receive the accurate itemized wage statements clearly revealing all of the information that is required by California labor laws and regulations.

One major problem with respect to the wage and hour rights of call center workers is that employers fail to pay them for all hours worked. Hours worked includes all time a call center employee must be on duty, or on the employer's premises or at any other prescribed place of work, from the beginning of the first principal activity of the workday to the end of the last principal activity of the workday. This includes the time call center workers spending booting up and shutting down their computers pre-shift and post-shift.

An example of common violations of state labor laws committed against call center workers and other customer service representatives occurs when employees working in call centers spend time starting computers before shifts to download work instructions, computer applications, and work-related emails.

Another major problem in the call center industry is that many companies pay customer service workers a salary without additional overtime pay for working more than eight hours in a workday or forty hours in a workweek. A salary, by itself, does not exempt employees from the minimum wage or from overtime. Whether employees are exempt from minimum wage and/or overtime depends on their job duties and responsibilities as well as the salary paid. Sometimes, in call centers, salaried employees do not meet all the requirements specified by the regulations to be considered as exempt.

At Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik, our California employment law lawyers represent customer representative workers in cases of violations of state labor laws, including wrongful termination, discrimination and harassment. Customer service representatives serve as a direct point of contact for customers and are responsible for ensuring that the company's customers receive an adequate level of service or help with their questions and concerns. These employees interact with customers to provide information in response to inquiries about products or services and to handle and resolve complaints.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Federal and State Laws

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA):

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employees are allowed 12 weeks each year to care for the serious health condition of an employee,, their spouse, child, regardless of whether or not the child is natural or adopted, or other family member.

Under the California Family Rights Act, domestic partners are allowed to take the 12 weeks each year to attend to each others medical issues. California state labor laws allow employees to now receive partial wage replacement up to 6 weeks of leave.

Under California Labor Code Section 233, sick leave is not mandated. In fact, sick leave is similar to vacation time and holiday pay laws in that it is something that an employer may choose, at its discretion, to give its employees. However, if employers in California offer employees a sick leave policy, the employee must be given the option of using it as family leave.

Common Labor Law Violations Committed Against Computer Professionals

Although information and technology systems at first galvanized California’s workforce by creating many more jobs, it soon became apparent that the state’s computer revolution not only led to many more employment opportunities, but also to many more opportunities for employers to violate the state’s labor laws.  Nowadays, it has become a standard business practice in California for computer companies to commit illegal labor practices against computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software engineers and other similarly skilled workers in the computer field.

The employment law lawyers of Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik are known throughout the state of California- from Los Angeles to San Jose, Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area - for obtaining large settlements and judgments on behalf of computer employees. We primarily concentrate on helping employees in the computer industry collect:

·        Unpaid overtime wages and salaries

·        Wages and penalties for misclassifying skilled workers as exempt from overtime pay

·        Unpaid vacation time

·        Out-of-pocket work expenses such as equipment, tools, software, hardware, seminars, computer classes, licenses, training and other certifications 

·        Compensation for time spent “on-call” or standby time

·        Compensation for time spent working off-the-clock booting up and shutting down computers or working from home

Our employment law attorneys also focus on helping employees in actions to recover penalties for illegal employer activity. Employees working in computer and technology position can rely on us in cases of wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination and retaliation.

In order to pay computer employees a fixed salary and no overtime wages, it is the technology company’s burden to prove that the worker is exempt based on his or her job duties. To satisfy the computer exemption test, you must be a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer or other highly skilled employee. In addition, you must be a paid a guaranteed, high minimum salary each week.  Computer workers that manufacture, install, repair, maintain, troubleshoot or perform other repetitive tasks are entitled to premium overtime wages. Whether or not the employee is capable of high-skilled work, has a fancy job title or makes a salary is irrelevant. All that matters is what he or she is actually doing.

Pharmaceutical Sales Rep. Not Making Overtime? Call 858.551.1223 Today!

On July 6, 2010 the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in In Re Novartis Wage & Hour Litigation that Novartis' pharmaceutical sales representatives did NOT meet the requirements of the administrative or outside sales exemptions.

On August 11, 2010, just a month later, the Federal Labor Department also known as the DOL filed an non-party friendly brief in the Ninth Circuit case of Buchanan v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., declaring that pharmaceutical sales representatives are NOT exempt under the outside sales exemption or the administrative exemption. The 9th circuit has not yet made a ruling, but it is highly anticipated that it will make a decision in favor of the sales representatives not being exempt from overtime.

In 2008, about 24 percent worked more than 50 hours per week. See http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos119.htm.  Employment of sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, is expected to grow by 7 percent between 2008 and 2018. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos119.htm. So as you can see, damages and substantial and only likely to increase.

The theory behind the sales reps not being exempt, in its most basic form, is this: The [reps] do not sell any [drugs] or obtain any orders for [drugs]. At most the [sales reps] can get the [doctors] to make a non-binding promise that they will [prescribe patients] the [drug]. As a result, the sales reps do not satisfying the sales exemption test because they are promoting rather than “Making sales.” 


At Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik, our California employment law attorneys represent Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives in actions for unfair employer practices such as discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment and unpaid overtime wages.

Employee Reporting Back to Work for Second Shifts? Contact Experienced Overtime Wage Lawyers

Reporting time compensation, commonly known as "call back pay" provides wages to nonexempt employees who report to work but are permitted to work less than half the hours of their regular shift due to scheduling conflicts or inadequate notice by the employer. Employees must be paid for half the usual or scheduled day's work, but in no event for less than 2 hours nor more than 4 hours, at their regular rate of pay. Wage Order Nos. 1-2001-16-2001, §5(A) (8 Cal Code Regs §§11010-11160, §5(A)); see §5(C)-(D) for exceptions.

If an employee is required to report for work a second time in any one workday and is furnished less than 2 hours of work on the second reporting, the employee must be paid for 2 hours at the employee's regular rate of pay. Wage Order Nos. 1-2001-16-2001, §5(B) (8 Cal Code Regs §§11010-11160, §5(B)).

At Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik, our California employment law attorneys represent workers who are called back for second shifts in a single day but not given extra compensation for that reporting time. Additionally, our experienced overtime wage lawyers represent loss prevention and other similar employees.

Mutable Timekeeping Systems

Often times, employers use mutable timekeeping systems. These are problematic for two reasons. Foremost, mutable timekeeping systems are problematic because the timekeeping systems are not capable of recording and reporting all of the hours that employees work. Second, these types of mutable timekeeping systems are problematic because they are subject to manipulation.

1. Timekeeping Systems Not Capable of Tracking Your Hours
In California, employers are suppose to pay non-exempt employees one and a half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 8 hours in a workday, 40 hours in a workweek, or the first 8 hours of work on a seventh consecutive day or work. In addition, employers are required to pay non-exempt employees double the regular rate of pay for working more than 12 hours in a single workday or for working more than 8 hours on a seventh consecutive workday.

When employers have mutable timekeeping systems, often times the timekeeping systems are not capable of tracking all of the overtime hours that employees work. This is particularly the case when employees are required to perform job duties for their employers away from the employers place of business.

2. Timekeeping systems subject to manipulation.
 The second major problem with these mutable timekeeping systems is that they are subject to manipulation. As a result, managers and supervisors can alter the amount of time that employees work. For instance, suppose you worked 9 hours in a workday. The manager can go into the time system and mark it down as though you worked 8 hours. Then the employer can try to make a comp time deal with you, saying something like "you worked an extra hour yesterday so you can leave an hour early today." However, this is a problem because the employee should be receiving overtime wages for working 9 hours the previous day.

At Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik, our employment law attorneys represent workers throughout the state of California in actions to recover wages from employers based on the employer's illegal pay practices.

Call (858) 551-1223 in San Diego, Los Angeles, or Northern California.