Are you searching for a California employer defense attorney for a class action or PAGA dispute?  The Watkins Firm has been defending employers in class action and PAGA actions in San Diego and throughout the State of California for more than four decades.

Class Actions Represent a Substantial Risk: Financial Damages

Employer-related class action and PAGA cases represent the potential for substantial liabilities for those who are accused of financial damages to a number of current and former employees represented by plaintiffs attorneys.  The Watkins Firm aggressively defends our clients in these cases by working to remediate or mitigate the violations or accusations, prevent the certification of a class while employing strategies designed to disrupt the relationship of the class and the extent of damages and/or financial exposure our clients face.

Decades of Experience as a San Diego Employer Defense Attorney for a Class Action or PAGA Dispute

The Watkins Firm brings decades of experience as a San Diego employer defense attorney for a class action or PAGA dispute.  Our firm is well known for defending San Diego employers in wage and hour, Private Attorneys General Act or PAGA actions, discrimination, retaliation and other employment defense related cases.

Many plaintiffs attorneys attempt to draw employees into these PAGA class action cases.  The strategies the Watkins Firm utilizes when defending class actions are designed to limit the high risk and potential financial damages associated with class action cases. In many cases we are able to work with our clients to take immediate, prudent action to reduce or eliminate their exposure, remediate allegations and put a stop to these threatening actions.

Wage and Hour Defense Attorneys

Our experienced San Diego class action defense attorneys handle wage and hour class actions including but not limited to:

• Meals and Rest Breaks
• Pay Rates and the California Fair Pay Act
• Uniform Related Disputes
• Donning & Doffing Policies, Procedures and Pay
• Unpaid Overtime

We also handle cases associated with the labeling of “organic” products here in California, as well as disputes and claims arising from “Made in the USA” class action cases.  There are complex local, state and federal laws associated with the labeling of produce or food products as “organic.”  The violation of these laws can result in substantial financial penalties and the risk of a class action lawsuit.

When defending a class action in Southern California your Watkins Firm California employer defense attorney for a class action or PAGA dispute takes a unique approach to litigation to resolve these cases quickly and cost-effectively.  We prepare every case as if it will go to a full trial from the outset and are prepared to take our client’s matter to trial to obtain a successful outcome in the rare event it is necessary.

Pro-Tip: “If you really want to lay it out, anything you do that is technically wrong as an employer, well, the state of California has hired or licensed a whole bunch of lawyers out there to be bounty hunters, and instead of funding any regulation and enforcement, our legislature has just said, ‘we can say whatever we want. And there will be a lawyer out there who wants to get attorney’s fees out of an employer and be a bounty hunter to try to catch employers in the tiniest of mistakes and make them pay dearly for it.’

What’s the best word of caution? Pay attention and have a good lawyer. You need an experienced, proven attorney that only represents employers, one that stays up to speed and take those little technical matters seriously, because it doesn’t cost much to be in compliance. It really doesn’t, but it costs so much to get caught. Usually you don’t get caught for a few months and before you know it, you could literally lose hundreds of thousands of dollars for an accounting error or the way you put your paychecks out or your refusal or failure to put up a little sign in your break room. All those little things. There’s some lawyer out there, Mr. Bounty Hunter, looking for you to try to collect five, 10, $15,000 or more in attorneys’ fees for catching you in these tiny mistakes.

Let’s talk about class actions. That’s how you take a mistake on the way somebody drafted someone’s paycheck in the tune of, let’s say $15 a week. When there are multiple employees, that puts you in a class action that costs you $300,000 to $400,000 because of an accounting error, because they went into a class action. Now, had you had certain types of agreements in place, even some kinds of arbitration agreements, (that’s where we’re at now on these laws), you could have cut this off at the start.  Also, had you had an old, experienced employer defense lawyer you could talk to about your procedures or maybe an outside accounting service to review it or a CPA or our HR person, someone you can call if there’s any questions, or your staff can call, then you won’t have this problem. And if you do, then you shut it down right away.

And that leads us to another important point: fast action in any of these matters is the key. Pick up the phone and call us the second that you think something’s going on. Why does that matter? Judges don’t really like these cases, and there’s a lot of technical reasons to throw them out because of the sort of a shady PI lawyer, the person that hangs out in the hospital room. These kind of employment lawyers are starting to be like that. And so if they don’t follow all the rules and you get to court in the first couple of months and you file a motion saying you didn’t give the proper notice, you didn’t state the proper cause of action, judge will throw it out.

Our first question in many of these cases is “How can we help you to remediate the problem?”  Sometimes we literally have them come in and we say, ‘no, no, no, don’t pay us all this money. Pay the extra $3,000 in wages. Send out amended pay stubs before you even have to answer the complaint.’ And guess what? All of the causes of action that have attorney’s fees in them are gone. Nobody wants to see you anymore because of that. So yes, quick action gives your employer defense lawyer at the Watkins Firm the right to do things that just destroy a case in the beginning. We love that!” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

Employers Need to Take Immediate Action

San Diego and California employers need to take immediate action the moment they become aware of any potential employee-related dispute.  This is especially true if you receive any letter requesting information on one or more of your employees which mentions several citations to California Labor Code or a request for a “tolling agreement.  These are all immediate red flags that you need a Watkins Firm California employer defense attorney for a class action or PAGA dispute.

If you are a San Diego or California employer and have any suggestion of a potential dispute or legal action involving one or more of your employees we invite you to review our podcast Episode 39 – What Keeps Employers Up at Night as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today. Learn how the Watkins Firm can help to reduce the risks, financial exposure and costs associated with these volatile legal cases.