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Wage & Hour

Wage and Hour Claims

State and federal statutes require employers to pay workers on time, provide meal and rest breaks, overtime pay and pay at least minimum wage. If you have been denied any of these benefits under the law, chances are that your employer is also withholding the rightful wages of other employees in your company. If this is the case, Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP may recommend a class action lawsuit to recover your wages and other damages.

GPM has decades experience in employment law class action litigation. Our attorneys have succeeded in obtaining class certification in more than a dozen wage and hour cases and have recovered millions of dollars for thousands of employees. Our firm has the skills, resources and experience to pursue complex wage and hour claims in federal and state courts. We will handle your claim on a contingency fee basis, meaning we will front all litigation costs and we only get paid attorneys’ fees if there is a recovery. If there is no recovery, we do not get paid and the costs are not covered by GPM.

Fair Labor Standard Act

The Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) is the cornerstone of federal wage and hour law. State laws are generally based upon the FLSA and often provide even stronger protections.

The FLSA sets the minimum wage per hour, but the higher wage under the state or federal law prevails. In addition, the FLSA requires payment of one and one-half times the regular rate for all work performed above 40 hours.
Common tactics for reducing workers’ rightful wages is to not pay for mandatory training or to require off-the-clock work. In the electronic age, employers may demand practically 24-hour access and immediate response from employees during holidays and afterhours, an obligation for which the employee may have the right to be paid.

Misclassification of Employees

Because exempt employees are not subject to FLSA regulations, misclassifying employees is a standard unlawful practice. State laws also often prohibit misclassification. For example, employers may deny employees classified as “managers” overtime pay or other benefits granted to non-managerial employees, even though they do not perform managerial duties most of the time. Additionally, independent contractors are not afforded protections under the FLSA, including the right to minimum wage and overtime pay. In fact, one of our attorneys recently won a unanimous California Supreme Court victory in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, for which he received a prestigious award from the Los Angeles Daily Journal. When you work with our firm, our lawyers will carefully review the details of your employment relationship to determine whether you were incorrectly classified and entitled to lost wages arising from the misclassification.

Why Bring a Class Action Lawsuit for Wage and Hour Violations?

Commonly, FLSA violations are systemic. All workers are subject to the same unfair practices and policies and in a position to bring similar claims. A class action is a particularly important tool in wage and hour cases. The lost wages may amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars to individual employees, who would otherwise lack the means to seek individual recovery. A class action allows workers to bring one legal action against the offending company through a streamlined judicial process.

Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (PAGA). This California statute allows employees to sue on behalf of the State for employers’ violations of numerous provisions of the Labor Code. These cases do not require a certification of the class by the Court and are, therefore, easier to prosecute to settlement or verdict. PAGA imposes monetary fines for each violation of the Labor Code by the employer of $100 for the first violation and $200 for each subsequent violation, calculated per pay period. Of the sum recovered, 25% is allocated to employees and 75% to the State. Our attorneys have been on the front lines of litigation involving this important novel statute, obtaining millions of dollars in settlements for wage and hour violations.

Learn More About Class Action Wage and Hour Claims

Has your employer cheated you out of your rightful wages? You have legal remedies to recover your wages and other damages. Discuss your case with a class action employment attorney at GPM during a free, confidential consultation. Contact us today to schedule an appointment.

Court Recognition

“And without question, the Court is of the opinion that the value of benefit that’s been conferred to the class is extremely sizable and that this Court is certainly aware that the skill and efficiency of plaintiff’s counsel is what attributed to this settlement, and they are learned securities counsel. The Court is mindful of that, and as a result they were able to sort of weed their way through the complex issues in this case, and also to bring this about — bring about a settlement rather in short order as these matters go. So the Court certainly attributes that to counsel’s skill and efficiency, as well as the ability to work with the adversaries in this matter.”

–Hon. Susan D. Wigention, U.S. District Judge, District of New Jersey

“Class Counsel has conducted the litigation and achieved the Settlement in good faith and with skill, perseverance and diligent advocacy”

— Hon. Donovan W. Frank, U.S. District Judge, District of Minnesota

“The court finds that the Settlement Fund… created by Class Counsel is an exceptional result… The settlement is significantly above the average securities class action settlement when measured as a percentage of losses recovered… The court finds that Class Counsel, particularly Co-Lead Counsel, exerted tremendous effort on behalf of the class in the prosecution of this action… The Court finds that Class Counsel skillfully prosecuted this action, particularly given that this case was unusually complex relative to most securities fraud class actions. ”

–Hon. Dickran M. Tevrizian (Ret.), U.S. District Court Judge, Central District of California

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