Employer Defense Attorneys for Labor Commission Hearings

Employer Defense Attorneys For Labor Commission Hearings

The Watkins Firm has more than four decades of experience serving as employer defense attorneys for Labor Commission hearings and conferences here in California.  Our attorneys represent employers and businesses before several federal and state employment agencies including but not limited to:

  • California Labor Commissioner
  • US Department of Labor
  • California Employment Development Department (EDD)
  • US Equal Opportunity Commission
  • California Department of Fair Employment and Housing

If you have been contacted regarding an employee complaint or invited to an “informal” hearing or conference you need the advice, counsel and representation of a firm with decades of experience serving our clients as their employer defense attorneys for Labor Commission hearings and conferences.

Our attorneys prepare employers and business owners for the intense questioning and tactics employed by Deputy Labor Commissioners and Hearing Officers designed to entrap you and expose you to financial consequences.  We attend these hearings and handle all negotiations with the agencies and their representatives to protect our clients and achieve the best possible outcomes in these cases.

The State of California is aggressively seeking to generate revenue by focusing upon what they consider to be “wage theft” and related employee wage and hour issues.  “Wage Theft” includes but is not limited to the nonpayment of wages, vacation, leave or overtime and the failure to provide rest breaks and meal breaks.  A recent Supreme Court decision exposes California employers to additional exposure for the misclassification of employees as independent contractors and provides agencies with the ability to apply these penalties retroactively.

We aggressively defend our clients in these hearings and conferences to seek outright dismissal of the claims and to limit their financial exposure.  The hearing officers in these matters have immense power and are known to lean heavily toward the side of an employee.  Our experienced firm has a proven track record of success as employer defense attorneys for Labor Commission hearings and conferences in California, and preventing the case from moving forward.  We seek an “Order, Decision or Award” or ODA which reduces the financial exposure of our clients.

Dan Watkins Founding Partner of the Watkins FirmPro-Tip: “My counsel to all California employers: Pay attention and have a good lawyer.  Being an employer in California is like the hardest… This is the hardest, most regulated and litigious state in which to be an employer. You need a partner, an employer defense attorney who stays up to speed and takes 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 in fees for tiny mistakes.

A good defense starts with a good offense, right? What are the elements of a good offense in your mind for an employer? These include employment contracts, human resource manuals, employee handbooks, rules and regulations, policies and procedures, training and staying up to speed on the ever-changing laws in California.  You could have cut this off also, had you had some 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 you or your staff can call, get some quick affordable advice (often we don’t even charge for these quick questions) then you won’t have this problem. And if you do, then we can help 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, judge will throw it out.

Labor Commission hearings follow specific guidelines and rules. Remediation can be part of the solution. If you know ahead of time and good experienced lawyer that’s not just ready to milk you, because that’s what many law firms do, they won’t propose a solution. They’ll just propose fight, fight, fight. But sometimes we have our clients 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 yes, quick action gives your lawyer the right to do things that just destroy a case in the beginning.” – 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.