Source: http://www.daniels.legal/category/employment/wage-and-hour/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 04:27:59+00:00

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Obviously, your job is important to you. It feeds your family. It pays the rent. It helps to educate your children.
You work hard for your employer. You show up on time and stay late when needed. You do your best to succeed.You are a “company” worker.
Though you have to meet the requirements expected at work, you also have certain rights under the law as an employee. You have employee rights under California law.
For example, generally speaking, you employer has to pay you the minimum wage. Most hourly employees are also entitled to regular breaks, overtime pay, worker’s compensation insurance, unemployment insurance and unpaid time off for serious illness or a new baby.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is generally prohibited, as is discrimination based on certain characteristics such as gender, race, national origin or religion. If you suffer from a disability, your employer may be required to accommodate you by making changes in the workplace so your can perform the essential functions of your job position.
Sometimes a situation at work will seem unfair or even intolerable. When it does, it is best not to suffer in silence. Let your supervisor know that there is a problem, or if appropriate, consult with human resources. Most workplace problems can be resolved informally when there is communication. You may be surprised with the result! You may be surprised regarding how and why California law protects your employee rights.
If your employer is unwilling to help you solve your workplace problem, there may be other solutions. The California Department of Industrial Relations can help you understand your rights and provides services for employees in the state. There are low-income clinics and workshops aimed to assist California workers, you can find references to them on the internet.
Of course, if you have a serious employment problem, whether its wage and hour, wrongful termination or discrimination, Daniels Law Offices is on your side.
Labor Code section 227.3 provides employees with a right to vacation pay upon termination of employment when vacation is offered in an employer’s policy or contract, according to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement policy manual.
The leading California case, according to the manual, is Suastez v. Plastic Dress-up Co. (1982) 31 Cal.3d 774. According to the DLSE manual, vacation entitlements constitute deferred wages which vest as they are earned, so any entitlement to vacation is a proportionate right and vests as labor is rendered.
Vacation pay cannot be forfeited under a so-called “use it or lose it” policy. Boothby v. Atlas Mechanical (1992) 6 Cal.App.4th 1595, 1601. However, a cap may be placed on the amount of vacation that may accrue if not taken under certain circumstances. Henry v. Amrol (1990) 222 Cal.App.3d Supp. 1.
The bottom line, sometimes it pays to check with a knowledgeable employment attorney to make sure your pay is in line with the law.
Obviously your job is important to you. It feeds your family. Pays the rent. Helps educate your children.
You work hard for your employer. You show up on time and stay late when needed. You do your best to succeed.
Though you have to meet the requirements expected at work, you also have certain rights under the law as an employee.
Sometimes a situation at work will seem unfair or even intolerable. When it does, it is best not to suffer in silence. Let your supervisor know that there is a problem, or if appropriate, consult with human resources. Most workplace problems can be resolved informally when there is communication. You may be surprised with the result!
Of course, if you have a serious employment problem, whether its wage and hour, wrongful termination or discrimination, Daniels Legal | Law Offices is on your side.
Labor Code Section 203 provides a waiting time penalty that is consistent with constitutional due process.
The law does not view wage penalties as implicating property rights, which puts the 203 penalty outside of Campbell right at the start.
Moore v. Indian Spring Channel Gold Mining Co. (1918) 37 Cal.App. 370, 378 (quoting St. Louis, etc., R.R. Co. v. Paul, 173 U.S. 409).
When the section 203 penalty scheme withstood a constitutional due process challenge early in the last century in Moore v. Indian Sprint Channel Gold Mining Co. (1918) 37 Cal.App. 370, the remedial purpose of the penalty was highlighted in the decision. After a penal statute imposing misdemeanor liability and a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars was ruled unconstitutional (Matter of Crane, 26 Cal.App. 22), the legislature changed the law to impose a penalty based on wages with a thirty day limit.
Moore at 373-374. The court of appeal compared the penalty to other statutes, such as Code of Civil Procedure sections 732, 733 and 735 which impose treble damages on tenants who commit waste, cut down trees or forcibly detain property. “The constitutionality of these sections is not questioned. They are held not to be penal, but remedial.” Id. at 375.
The Court of Appeal distinguished between remedial civil penalties and punitive damages in Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority v. Superior Court (2004) 123 Cal.App.4th 261, and held that a government entity is not immune from civil penalties imposed by the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civil Code section 52 et seq.) under Government Code section 818, which bars imposing punitive damages against public entities. “[A] number of courts have concluded that to be condemned as punitive, a penalty, generally speaking, must simply and solely serve that purpose.” Id.at 272 “It is apparent from this legislative history that section 52 has at least two important non-punitive purposes. The first is simply to provide increased compensation to the plaintiff. The second purpose, and perhaps the most important one, is to encourage private parties to seek redress through the civil justice system by making it more economically attractive for them to sue. . . . If not for the civil penalty, many such litigants would neither have the economic incentive nor the means to retain counsel to pursue perpetrators under the statute.” Id. at 271-272.
Moore notes that the 203 penalty has a similar purpose. “There has been a pronounced tendency in state and national legislation for many years, not only to ameliorate the working conditions of the wage earner, but to safeguard him in his relations to his employer in respect of hours of labor and the compensation to be paid for his labor. . . the public safety and welfare demand . . . laws which are designed to secure [for labor] a reasonable wage, [and] to provid, where practicable, for the enforcement of payment by way of liens on the product of his labor . . . The intention of the penalty imposed by the act in question is to make it to the interest of the employer to keep faith with [its] employees and thus avoid injury to them and possible injury to the public at large.” Id. at 381-382.
Note: Moore repeatedly refers to the wage and labor laws under discussion as applicable to a class, e.g., “The act refers to all wage-earners, designated as employees, as the class referred to, and it unquestionably applies equally to all of the class.” Id. at 379.
DHL Express Inc. has agreed to settle a putative wage-and-hour class action brought in California federal court by former employees.
Although DHL has agreed this week on the settlement, the case is not actually closed.
Once the parties agree to a settlement, the Court needs to approve it. The process is generally a motion for preliminary approval, where we explain the terms of the settlement to the Court, preliminary approval (or disapproval) by the Court, notice to the class about the terms of the settlement with an opportunity to object or opt out, motion for final approval and final approval (or disapproval) by the Court.
It can take quite awhile for the entire process, much more cumbersome than a conventional individual case.
One of the reasons I enjoy class actions and complex litigation is they force you to be disciplined. Take the simple task of organizing and interviewing percipient witnesses.
In individual cases, you have a list of witnesses, you interview or depose them as seems appropriate and it’s pretty much a simple process. In class actions, you need a system or things can get out of hand pretty quick.
One of my favorite parts of prosecuting a class action is getting a contact list for the potential (we call them “putative”) class members and conducting the initial interviews that tell me just what it is that I have on my plate.
Getting the list isn’t always a simple deal. In the wage and hour cases I’ve litigating during the past several years, I’ve seen both extremes. Sometimes the defense will give up the list almost upon request. Usually this means they are feeling pretty good about their prospects. Sometimes, the defense fights tooth and nail, withholding the list until ordered by the court. Usually this means they are feeling insecure and then prepare for a bloody discovery battle.
We generally ask for a class list as soon as discovery opens and we ask in at least three different ways, which is further explained in this article on my website.
Insurance bad-faith cases are usually hard fought and can be bitter.
Generally speaking, when we take on a carrier for acting contrary to its insured’s interests and allege those actions are malicious justifying punitive damages, the folks on the defense side tend to take it personally.
So, the first rule of discovery in the bad faith case is, assume you are in for a tough fight. Which, in turn, leads to the second and third rules: know your adversary and be prepared.
The bad news that the general practitioner faces in prosecuting a bad faith case is that the defense team will usually be much better schooled in the fine points of insurance than an attorney who does not work with insurance matters on a daily basis.
The good news that the general practitioner can take heart from is B the purpose of bad faith law is to act as an equalizer between the powerful carriers who adjust claims for a living and the ordinary insured who probably never wanted to have a claim and, with luck, will never have another. Insurance regulations require that insurance companies keep a record of all material claims decisions. So, where there is wrongdoing, there is almost always a record of the bad acts waiting to be uncovered.
The key discovery strategy in defending bad faith cases is to deny the plaintiff information. However, if you know where and how to dig, it’s not that difficult to get the evidence you need to put on your successful case.
People spend their lives learning about the insurance business, which itself represents a huge, multifaceted, globally diverse industry devoted to making money by spreading risk. Generally, you do not have a lifetime to learn each and every nuance of the insurance world. So, don’t try. But do make sure you know everything you can about the facts and circumstances of the insurance business as it applies to your case.
Understand that the defendant or defendants in your prospective case may not be obvious from the face of the insurance materials your clients hand you. For example, it is not unusual to have a client provide letters on letterhead from the “Farmers Insurance Group of Companies.” Some practitioners will put this name in their complaint. Only, there is no such creature that can be sued. “Farmers Insurance Group of Companies” is simply the trade name for a collective of entities organized as inter-insurance exchanges. Usually, the proper defendants in a Farmers claims case are Farmers Group, Inc. (the management company), Farmers Insurance Exchange (the claims handling entity) and the insuring exchange (ie., Fire Insurance Exchange, Truck Insurance Exchange, etc.). See, Tran v. Farmers Group, Inc. (2002) 104 Cal.App.4th 1202 (rev. den. Mar. 26, 2003).
So, when laying out your case, always make sure you closely review the original insurance policy and declarations pages prior to determining who to name in your complaint. When in doubt, consult with experienced practitioners about who the proper parties are and why. Getting the defendants right at the beginning can save tremendous amounts of time during the case.
Also, make sure you understand who has standing to sue under the insurance policy. A business owner may not be able to sue for bad faith if the named insured is a corporation or limited liability company. On the other hand, the owner may have standing as an additional insured. The question is important where there is a potential for emotional distress and other general damage to the owner. Again, look to the policy and declarations pages for the answer.
Getting to the Heart of Your Case in 60 days or less.
Once you have the parties clear in your mind and have filed suit, you can prepare your initial round of discovery for service once the defendants answer or, as is more typical, demur.
I seldom use interrogatories during my initial bad faith discovery. I find it is much more productive to immediately demand the claim file(s) and, if warranted, the underwriting file(s), since these are the basic documents necessary for preparing any bad faith case for trial.
Because these files are key evidence in the case, and in order to discourage potential mischief in discovery, I ask for the documents in multiple requests, simultaneously, using a formal request for production of documents, along with a custodian of records deposition notice and notice of deposition of the person most qualified. By utilizing this process, I find I am able to exert maximum pressure on the defense to produce the entire record all at once. This process also insures that I will be able to either establish foundation for the insurance files either by direct testimony or stipulation, so that they are admissible later in the case. Do not assume that a claim file or any other document will be admitted at trial under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. Nail down the foundation as you go, it will save much grief later on.
It is also important to make sure that the original files are available during any depositions. Copies of files don’t do the originals justice B often information about file handling can be gleaned from handwriting on the file folders themselves or how the files are organized. It is much easier for insurance adjusters and other key witnesses to evade answering key questions if the original files are not in front of them. Copies of file materials are okay as part of a document production and, in fact, are easier to handle as you organize your case. But make sure you request to see the originals and insist they be produced.
Person most qualified depositions under Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.220 are the fastest way to gain general information about the basic handling of the claim or other insurance matter that lies at the heart of your case. I typically notice the person most qualified to testify regarding the identities of each and every individual who performed work or made a decision in the matter. Generally, the witness will be the primary claims adjuster, which is fine. However, the PMQ deposition helps avoid wasting time meeting and conferring over boilerplate objections and incomplete responses typical when interrogatories are served.
Also, try to determine whether or not the defense will be allowing on advice of counsel as a defense by serving a simple Request for Admission that is on point. Carriers generally do not like using the defense since it opens up areas that would otherwise be privileged. But don’t assume it won’t be used. Ask up front.
Once I know who was involved with the claim or other insurance matter I am concerned with, I typically depose everyone who touched the file in any way. Even if the deposition lasts only fifteen minutes, absent a stipulation, getting the testimony is the only way to insure that all the potential holes in your cases are filled.
I prefer to video all key depositions, particularly the adjusters and claims personnel. The best insurance bad faith cases are generally morality plays where the attitude and demeanor of the witnesses are just as important as their precise testimony. A picture, as the saying goes, is often worth a thousand words.
When deposing insurance professionals, I almost always begin by getting them to agree with me as to basic principles such as an insurance carrier must give its insured’s interests equal weight with its own,” an insurer is obligated to conduct a thorough, fair and objective investigation into the facts of a claim,” etc. Once I establish the common framework of duty, I use those basic principles to tie down the witness while going through the claim.
Lists of duties and obligations can be gleaned from the case law, jury instructions and your experts. Make one up that works for your case and use it from day one.
In deposing witnesses, utilize the insurance files you obtained at the beginning of the case as both a guide to questioning and evidentiary support for your case. Adjusters will have diary notes, these should be analyzed and authenticated by the witness. If it is unclear just what notes or materials were created by the witness, don’t be afraid to ask. Unraveling how a claim was handled is often like piecing together an intricate puzzle. Be thorough with each witness and you will not need to fear missing pieces when your discovery is concluded.
Also, just as in any case, don’t be afraid to lead adverse witnesses as allowed by Evidence Code section 776. Leading questions are the best way to focus an adverse witness, especially one that might be inclined to waste your time with irrelevant insurance technicalities and side issues.
There’s no magic to conducting bad faith discovery. Just preparation, study and hard work.
While the basics outlined in this article should help you get going, don’t forget that there is a strong community of insurance bad faith practitioners available who can help answer particular questions or give guidance on technical issues.
In my mind, there is no nobler endeavor than fighting for deserving individuals who have been legitimately wronged by powerful institutions. Hopefully, you are of the same mind. So, go get ’em!

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