Hire the California Labor Board or California Labor Law Attorneys - You Decide

With a downturn in the economy, many employers are cutting back on payroll. Unfortunately, some employers are reducing payroll costs by violating the California overtime laws. When this occurs, employees have essentially two options to recover their California overtime pay: the California labor board, or hiring California labor law attorneys.

Although the California Labor Board is a commonly known option that is a free service to the public, as you will see, in some cases “you get what you pay for.” There are some little known facts about the services provided by the California labor board that will be explained in this article.

• The California labor board, unlike California labor law attorneys, typically handles cases below $7500.

• The California labor board does not attempt to recover the 4th year of California overtime pay under the California Unfair Competition Statute. California labor law attorneys seek to recover up to 4 years of California overtime pay for their clients.

• Certain penalties are not pursued by the California labor board. California labor law attorneys may pursue all penalties under California overtime laws.

• Attorney fees employees incur are not recoverable by the California labor board pursuant to California overtime laws.

• Your employer may appeal any award by the California labor board pursuant to California overtime laws. If this happens you may need to hire California labor law attorneys to assist you. Also under California overtime laws on appeal, the prevailing party may be awarded attorney fees. An important point here is that if you handle your case through California labor law attorneys from the outset, if you prevail your employer may have to pay your attorney fees and costs.

Outlined below are the steps for requesting an employee matter ruling from the California Labor Board:

1) Typically the employee will file a complaint at the California Department of Labor with the California Labor Board and the employer will be notified via mail of the complaint, pursuant to California overtime laws.

2) A non-binding mediation is then scheduled by the California Department of labor at the California Labor Board and the employer is made aware of the specific claim made by the employee and the amount of monies that are being claimed. The California Labor Department may also add statutory penalties and or interest to this amount on behalf of the employee.

3) If the matter does not settle at this mediation, a formal hearing is set at the California Department of Labor, California labor board, and the employee and employer may have legal counsel present to represent them. The California state department of labor will have an administrative judge conduct the hearing and both sides will have a chance to present their side, any evidence and any witnesses.

4) Upon hearing the matter, the California Department of Labor, California labor board will issue a ruling. The California department labor rules provide that all parties may be represented by counsel at the Superior Court hearing and the case is conducted as a civil trial.

If you are faced with a violation of California overtime laws by your employer, it is important to consider both your options on how to best pursue your overtime claim. Hopefully the summaries provided above have equipped you with some basic, yet little known information, about the differences between using the free service provided by the California Labor Board or retaining experienced California labor law attorneys to handle your legal matter.