Are you searching for experienced California lawyers with the proven skill to defend an employer in wage and hour litigation in San Diego or anywhere throughout the State of California?  San Diego employers face increasing risk related to the potential for wage and hour violations.  For the past few years, the number of wage and hour related lawsuits and regulatory audits and investigations has substantially increased.  New laws imposed upon California and San Diego employers recently have increased the importance of reviewing every aspect of an employer’s strategy, including the employment contract, employee handbook, policies and procedures, as well as the education of the management team.

The Watkins Firm is uniquely positioned to provide wage and hour advice and defense and protection for our clients and employer defense when a dispute or lawsuit develops.  We work with our clients to ensure proper payment and accounting of all wages including:

• minimum wage
• overtime
• rest, meal and non-productive time
• piece-rate compensation

We defend an employer in wage and hour litigation relating to the misclassification of employees as independent contractors, unpaid overtime, and other lawsuits brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or California wage and hour laws and regulations.  We are often able to negotiate and/or resolve complex employee-related litigation including PAGA actions and other wage and hour matters while protecting our client’s goals and objectives.  New laws allow employees to bypass contractual agreements regarding arbitration and other stipulations and you need a proven employer defense attorney who can develop and implement a strategy to limit your exposure and resolve the matter efficiently.

Pro-Tip: “Let’s talk about an employer who makes a mistake on the way somebody drafted someone’s paycheck in the tune of, let’s say $15 a week. The next thing you know, you’re in a PAGA class action that puts you at risk for $300,000, $400,000 because of an accounting error that led to 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 also, had you had some lawyer you could talk to about your procedures or maybe 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.

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 they’re turning into 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, the judge will throw it out.

If you call us, as soon as you’re aware of it, we can help you to mitigate the problem, or remediate it, get rid of it, solve it altogether. If you know ahead of time and your good experienced lawyer at the Watkins Firm, 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 sue you anymore because of that. So yes, quick action gives your lawyer the ability to help you to do things that just destroy a case in the beginning.

Call us, and you describe what’s going on with a certain troubled employee. And we can tell you like skin cancer, oh, that fact scenario doesn’t really fit something to worry about and 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, $30,000 lawsuit situation into empowerment where you can stand your ground or maybe you make some concessions because you got some advice from your lawyer. You need to know when you got to worry about it and when you don’t.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

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.  We will discuss our wage and hour review services, and the steps required to bring your company into compliance with all of the changes imposed upon San Diego and California employers.  Reduce your exposure to wage and hour violations and tighten the policies and procedures and employee handbook of your organization to increase profitability and reduce employment disputes.