Do you need an attorney for employer defense in a hearing or conference associated with an employee complaint in San Diego?  The Watkins Firm provides employer defense in a California labor hearing or conference, as well as other actions associated with state and federal agency inquiries.

What is “Wage Theft”

Usually, these cases involving a hearing or conference begin with a complaint by an employee or former employee to a state or federal agency.  California’s Labor Commissioner and state agencies often refer to “wage theft” which they believe occurs when an employer fails to pay their employees for work and/or overtime.  The goal of the Labor Commissioner is to administer “economic justice” against California employers.

There are three things which are important to understand if you are contacted by a federal or state agency:

1. There is no such thing as an “informal” hearing,

2. the target of these inquiries is your company’s checkbook and,

3. the sooner you take action and contact the Watkins Firm the less your financial and legal exposure will be.

Never Go to a Conference or Hearing as an Employer Without Legal Representation

You do not want to respond to their correspondence or attend any meeting without your Watkins Firm attorney for employer defense in a California labor hearing or conference.

You may be invited to attend an “informal” hearing or conference.  This “informal” meeting will begin with you being grilled by the hearing officer regarding California labor and wage and hour laws, and how they are implemented within your company.  The Deputy Labor Commissioner or hearing officer is an expert in the law, and the vast majority of San Diego employers are unprepared to answer the barrage of questions they will immediately face.  This is why it is important for the Watkins Firm to provide a firm defense for San Diego employers facing Labor Commission hearings or conferences.

Once the hearing officer has established your lack of expertise in the law, they will conclude something to the effect of “the employee must be right, you obviously do not understand California labor laws so how could you be believed in this case.”  The next comment will be “Let’s move into negotiations for the settlement of this matter,” (read: the size of the check you’re about to write).

Your Attorney for Employer Defense in a Hearing or Conference in San Diego

The Watkins Firm will provide an experienced proven attorney for employer defense in a California Labor hearing or conference associated with any state or federal agency.  When you are facing Labor Commission hearings and conferences you’ll need trusted legal counsel.  We help our clients to prepare for these meetings and work to provide extensive documentation and evidence which help to guide the conversation to ensure a more successful outcome.

We will respond to the initial complaint providing substantive documentation and requesting an immediate dismissal of the case.  If there is an “informal” meeting or hearing, we respond succinctly and directly to the hearing officer’s questions while ensuring the process does not become a fishing expedition.  We keep the hearing officer and the meeting on track, focused upon disproving the allegations and moving the process toward a positive resolution for our clients.

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 employers 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.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

Are you searching for employer defense in a California labor hearing or conference? Are you a California employer who has been accused of wrong doing or wage theft by a current or former employee or a state or federal labor agency?  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.