Understanding Wage Theft

Your hard-earned wages are your property. They belong to you. I’m not just saying this as a matter of principal, it is actually the law. In fact, an employer’s failure to pay an employee’s full wages for all of their work in a timely manner has a name: wage theft. Some acts that are considered wage theft include:

• Paying below minimum wage. Employers are required to pay the highest minimum wage available to an employee, whether it is the Federal minimum wage, the state minimum wage, or the locally adopted minimum wage.
• Improperly withholding tips, commissions, or bonuses. These are all property of the employee once earned.
• Failing to properly account for employees’ work hours. The failure to maintain accurate timesheets, or procedures that result in employee or employers underreporting an employee’s time mean that the employee is underpaid.
• Compelling an employee to work “off the clock”. This is highly illegal and violates the fundamental purpose of wage and overtime laws.
• Failing to pay overtime. Employees are entitled to overtime pay when they work more than 8 hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek. They get double pay when they work more than 12 hours in a day. Failing to pay overtime violates overtime laws.
• Depriving employees of their rest breaks, or compelling employees no to use their breaks.
• Misclassifying employees. Workers who are classified as exempt employees, or are classified as independent contractors are not protected by wage and overtime laws. Therefore, some employers see a financial incentive in misclassifying workers so they don’t have to pay minimum wage or overtime, or provide breaks.

Unfortunately, wage theft is far too common in California, because it is just too tempting to employers to try to cut corners and save money, even if it is at the expense of its employees. In fact, there is a growing concern that the pest control company Terminix may be misclassifying its employees as exempt. If true, this means that employees are being deprived of their hard earned overtime pay, which is wage theft.

Contact Moss Bollinger

Wage theft is a gross violation of the employer-employee relationship. When you work hard, you are entitled to full payment for your work, including minimum wage, overtime, and rest breaks. Unfortunately, this may not be happening for employees of Terminix, which may be misclassifying Technicians and skirting wage and overtime laws. If you have worked for Terminix in the last three years, you may be entitled to damages. Contact Moss Bollinger. We are interested in talking to you and can help you determine whether you have a valid claim. If you do, we will do everything in our power to make your voice heard. We charge no fees up front and do not get paid unless you do. Call Moss Bollinger today at (310) 982-2291 to set up a free consultation or complete our online form.