California employers should never go to a wage claim hearing without proven counsel from the employer defense attorneys at the Watkins Firm.  This is especially true when appearing before a federal agency or the California Labor Commissioner, even at informal hearings.  The hearing officer gains an immediate impression regarding your preparation, documentation and ability to defend any action before them.  The experienced employer defense attorneys at the Watkins Firm will protect your interests, and provide representation that sends a clear message to the Hearing Board: “we are organized, prepared and ready to answer any question you have.”

The process is usually started by a current or former employee who files a wage and hour related complaint with the California Department of Industrial Relations.  Even if the complaint is resolved internally between an employer and their employee, the Department may choose to proceed with an investigation and refer your case to the California Labor Board.

If you receive any notice from the California Labor Board, including a notice regarding an informal wage claim hearing, you should immediately contact the attorneys at the Watkins Firm for a free consultation at 858-535-1511.

What are some of the additional reasons why California employers should never go to a wage claim hearing without the Watkins Firm?  You will be often invited to an “informal hearing” on the matter.  Informal hearings are anything but “informal.”  The California Labor Board will immediately begin gathering evidence to be used against you.  You should not respond to any requests for information without consulting one of our attorneys.  You are required by law to answer the notice with any requested supporting documentation, but only the specific information requested.  Provide too much and you may be adding to your own “guilt.”  The second important concept to understand is this:

The California Labor Board officer will expect you to have a strong knowledge and understanding of the associated labor code(s).

The informal hearing is our best opportunity to provide a strong first impression, to document our position and to resolve the matter and prevent a case from going forward.  If the hearing officer is not satisfied, they will proceed immediately with a settlement conference (read: you write a huge check) or a “formal” hearing will be scheduled.  You are required to have representation in this venue.

Pro-Tip: “So if you are a California employer, here are my best words of caution: Pay attention and have a good lawyer.

You need an experienced lawyer for employers who will help you to stay 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. It’s either the State Labor Commissioner’s office, or there’s some lawyer out there, Mr. Bounty Hunter, looking for you to try to collect five, 10, $15,000 in fees for tiny mistakes.

If you know ahead of time and good experienced lawyer for employer defense at the Watkins Firm, that’s not just someone trying to milk you, (because that’s what some lawyers unfortunately do, they won’t propose a solution. They’ll just propose fight), sometimes we have them come in and 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 yeah, quick action gives your lawyer the right to do things that just destroy a case in the beginning.

And our goal with our employees is to help them out. We’re here to help them through this and be there for them when they really need us. When you do defense work, you want to get rid of cases as soon as possible. Nobody in business makes money just staying in litigation.

The most important piece of advice I would give an employer is the second that you become aware of any potential employee related dispute, pick up the phone and call us for a free consultation, because we can tell you if ‘that mole is or isn’t cancer!’ Call us, and describe what’s going on with a certain troubled employee or the Labor Commissioner. And we can tell you, like skin cancer, ‘oh, that fact scenario doesn’t really fit something that I would go ahead and fight with them,’ or we can say, ‘oh, this one looks bad because of the things they’re complaining about or just the general facts. I would handle it this way.’ And so you can turn a $20,000 or $30,000 lawsuit situation into empowerment where you can stand your ground or maybe you make some concessions because you got some good advice from your lawyer at the Watkins firm. You need to know when you got to worry about it and when you don’t.

There’s always some lawyer looking at a paycheck and trying to figure out whether it came on time, whether the deductions were correct, whether everything was stated clearly and not in a vague manner, whether the size of the type print is correct.  Whether anything they can think of is wrong or not.  We can help.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

Protect yourself.  Contact the Watkins Firm.  The initial call is free and you will gain valuable information on how to deal with what could potentially be a very expensive and time consuming ordeal.  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.