The Watkins Firm has decades of experience defending California employers in wage and hour litigation such as unpaid overtime and other employee-related allegations. Employee disputes cascade through the organization and impact the operations of business at multiple levels. As a business owner or manager it is important to aggressively defend yourself against allegations of wrong doing by employees.

Defending California employers in wage and hour litigation requires a master of the facts and strong documentation.  The Watkins Firm has a strong, proven track record of success over more than 40 years defending employers and business owners – even when the client themselves thought their chances were poor. We work with our clients to ensure all internal documentation such as the employee handbook and policies and procedures are up to date and enforceable.  We coach you and your management team to know how to manage every step of the process within the limits of the law.

There has been a significant spike in wage and hour disputes as well as unpaid overtime litigation here in San Diego and across California over the past several years.  Plaintiff’s attorneys are actively seeking cases which can be leveraged to include multiple employees in a PAGA Class Action.  This is a substantial risk to your organization and you need an experienced and proven San Diego litigation team to protect and defend your interests.

Pro-Tip: “California employers need to pay attention and have a good lawyer. For example, we provided a comprehensive Employment Law Update for California employers that covered two episodes of our podcast (episodes 41 and 42). This helps our clients 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 outside of California’s extensive employment laws. 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 in fees for tiny mistakes.

Call us, and you describe what’s going on with a certain troubled employee. And we can tell you, 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 $20,00 or $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’ve got to worry about it and when you don’t.

When a plaintiff thinks about suing, they go to a lawyer, right? And then you’ll see a change in the way they’re talking to you. All of a sudden they start posturing. And you’ll start receiving communications that sound like you’re getting set up. And you might be, and people in your staff will say, this person’s acting different.

Well, if you called me, I would run a check to see if anything was filed already, because a plaintiff’s lawyer wants to secretly file it and not let you know until they’ve gathered evidence. But if you know that they filed and they’re hoping you won’t be gathering evidence and they’re trying to set you up, you can be gathering evidence yourself before they even serve you. And you could be fixing things, mitigating things before their case gets going and beat them to the punch, so to speak.  This is why it is important for every California employer to have an experienced employer defense attorney.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

Many employees file complaints with federal or state agencies resulting in administrative hearings.  If you are contacted by a federal or state labor commissioner or agency this should be a huge red flag.  Do not be fooled by misleading claims such as “we invite you to an informal conference.”  There is nothing informal about it.  You need to be aggressively defended before all state and federal agencies as well as the California Labor Commissioner.

If you are looking for seasoned, proven and experienced attorneys with a successful history of defending San Diego employers in wage and hour litigation 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 share results from cases just like yours, as well as the strategies that will help to ensure the best possible outcome in your case.