Carlsbad Employment Lawyer

Carlsbad, CA Employment Law Attorney

California employees have the right to a safe workplace as well as full and accurate wages. This state has strong legal protections for employees. It’s essential to retain an experienced attorney if you are not being treated or compensated fairly at work. If you are experiencing an employment violation at your current workplace, or if you have been fired for an illegal reason, such as whistleblowing, retaliation or discrimination, you need to work with an experienced employment attorney in Southern California.

Clapp & Lauinger LLP: Carlsbad Employment Attorneys Fighting for Your Rights

At Clapp & Lauinger LLP, we have proudly represented employees and protected workers’ rights for more than 30 years. Our exceptional attorneys are experienced in litigating in court and reaching fair settlements. We are always ready to fight for employees and their right to lost wages, back pay, unpaid overtime, and compensation for illegal treatment, such as dangerous working conditions, discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. Our attorneys have an impressive record of success in employment law cases in Carlsbad and throughout California, including class action claims and individual worker claims. We are always willing to pursue litigation and take an employment case to court if a negotiation is not in our client’s best interests.

Common Employment Law Cases and Violations in Carlsbad, CA

Clapp & Lauinger LLP has worked in employment law for more than 30 years and successfully represented employees in many complex employment cases. Common workplace claims include:

Wage and Hour Violations

Employees have the right to full, fair and accurate wages. This includes the right to overtime pay when they’ve worked a certain number of hours. Wage and hour violations often occur because the employer misclassifies the employee as exempt from overtime pay or refuses to allow the employee to take certain types of breaks. This is a form of wage theft by employers. Some employers also try to evade the law by calling their workers independent contractors when the workers are entitled to rights as employees. Remote workers who work at home or outside the office have the same rights to overtime and breaks as in-person employees. Wage and hour violations might include:

Failing to pay overtime wages
Paying less than the minimum wage in the state or city, whichever is the highest
Failing to pay all wages when due
Failing to provide complete and accurate wage statements
Failing to promptly give an employee their final paycheck
Failing to reimburse employees for their reasonable and necessary business expenses
Failing to reimburse employees for home office expenses, including internet and cellphone expenses
Refusing or discouraging rest and meal breaks by nonexempt employees
Failing to appropriately compensate for rest and meal breaks
Taking illegal wage deductions, such as for training expenses, breakage or losses
Having a use-it-or-lose-it vacation pay policy
Failing to properly pay sales commissions
Requiring employees to take their paid time off to work from home

Common wage and hour violations in Carlsbad, CA:

Off-the-Clock Work

Certain types of work done before or after a scheduled shift must be compensated. This includes important duties that are a necessary and principal part of activities done while on the clock, such as putting on or taking off safety equipment or going through security checks. If you are on call or waiting for work, and your time is primarily spent for your employer’s benefit, you may also deserve compensation. You generally must be paid for off-the-clock work.

Unpaid Overtime

Overtime pay is required when a nonexempt employee works over 40 hours in a week or 8 hours in a day. This pay should be 1.5 times the employee’s usual rate of pay. This is also true of mandatory overtime. Salaried employees are not automatically exempt from overtime laws. Salaried employees who spend most of their time performing the same job duties as hourly employees (such as retail, restaurant, or warehouse managers) are probably entitled to overtime.

Working with an experienced employment attorney can help you recover back pay for unpaid wages and overtime that were not compensated.

Remote Worker, Outside Sales, Financial Advisors and Tech Employee Rights

Remote workers, outside sales people, financial advisors, and tech employees have many of the same rights as in-person employees but are often faced with challenging and complex employer issues.

Reimbursement: Under California law, employers are required to reimburse their employees for work-related expenses, which could include internet, Wi-Fi, cell phone data, a computer, and a printer.
Workplace Notices: If an employer is required to post a physical notice to in-person employees, that same notice needs to also be sent to remote employees.
Telecommuting Policies: Employers are required to establish how remote employees track their time and maintain records for that time. Employers must create reasonable policies and clearly communicate them to remote employees.
Overtime: Remote workers and outside sales reps have rights to the same overtime pay as they would if their job was not remote.
Misclassification: Remote workers, outside sales reps, tech employees and financial advisors are often misclassified as independent contractors or exempt employees
Arbitration Agreements: Financial advisors and others in the security industry are often faced with illegal arbitration clauses in their employment contracts they didn’t even know existed.