If you are looking for experienced attorneys with a proven track record of employment defense in wage and hour disputes in San Diego and throughout California? We invite you to consider the Watkins Firm, wage and hour employer defense lawyers with more than four decades of experience.  We work with our employer clients to up front to ensure compliance with all federal, state and local employment laws and regulations.  We help employers to prevent wage and hour disputes before they ever arise and provide effective service resolving California wage and hour employer defense disputes when they arise.

3 Key Takeaways About Employment Defense in Wage and Hour Disputes in California:

• The primary cause of wage and hour disputes in California is a lack of consistent best practices when it comes to serving as an employer in California.
• There are many effective, and proven employment defense strategies to resolve the matter quickly and efficiently.
• These cases can often develop into PAGA class actions, and it is important to take immediate action and contact the Watkins Firm the moment you, as an employer, become aware of any potential issue or legal correspondence.

Reasons for Wage and Hour Disputes in California

There are many reasons for a wage and hour dispute between an employer and their work force.  Disputes arise over many aspects of employment, including but not limited to:

• Commission Disputes
• Allegations of Unpaid Overtime
• Compliance with meal and rest breaks
• Issues with incorrect paystubs
• Failure to pay minimum wage
• Issues with tips, tip reporting, and withholding of tips
• Questions associated with the California Fair Pay Act
• Distortion or abuse of federal employment law including ADA and FMLA

The key to employment defense in wage and hour disputes in California is consistent documentation, the interview of all parties and immediate action to resolve or remediate any potential exposure our employer clients may have.

Effective Employment Defense in Wage and Hour Disputes in San Diego

Resolving San Diego wage and hour disputes quickly and cost-effectively relies upon immediate action on the part of the employer.  The faster our employer clients contact the Watkins Firm for a free consultation once they become aware of any potential dispute the greater the odds we will be able to efficiently resolve it.

The good news is that the Watkins Firm is able to resolve most of these cases through effective, leveraged negotiation.  Ultimately an effective employer defense in wage and hour disputes in San Diego can include everything from negotiation to mediation and arbitration or representing our clients before federal or state Labor Boards.

Red Flags for Any San Diego Employer

What are some of the red flags for any San Diego area employer?  The most obvious may be a complaint directly from an employee or the receipt of any communication from outside counsel requesting payroll information and other data regarding an employee or group of employees.

If you have been contacted by a federal agency or a California agency such as the Labor Commissioner regarding an “informal hearing” it should also raise immediate red flags.  These hearings and conferences are anything but “informal” and are designed to put an employer immediately into a defensive posture ultimately leading to an expensive settlement.

A recent Supreme Court decision has raised substantial issues for San Diego employers who use independent contractors as a part of their primary business strategy.  The misclassification of independent contractors and 1099 workers can result in substantial financial consequences which often threaten the financial viability of the business.

Resolution of a Wage and Hour Defense Case

Resolving cases involving employment defense in wage and hour disputes in San Diego and throughout California begins with preventing them before they ever arise.  We work with our employer clients to make sure all documents and practices, including the employee handbook and policies and procedures, are up to date and carefully crafted to reduce potential exposure.

Effective resolution requires our attorneys to become involved as early in the process as possible to resolve these disputes before they escalate to an employee complaint to a labor agency or a lawsuit.  Effective, early action absolutely helps to remediate and resolve any substantive issues and reduce our client’s exposure.  The Watkins Firm has more than 40 years of experience defending California and San Diego employers in many actions ranging from wage and hour disputes to PAGA actions, as well as accusations of discrimination, wrongful termination or retaliation.

Pro-Tip: “Well, your procedures have to be updated every year and they should be in place and they should be looked at, and you’ll get some gentle suggestions. Well, why don’t you try this and why don’t you try that and just have a resource available.  The old saying, a good defense starts with a good offense, right? What are the elements of a good offense for a California employer?

It’s a combination of basics: Employment contracts, human resource manuals, employee handbooks, rules and regulations, training and staying up to speed on the ever-changing laws in California.

Let’s talk about class actions.  That’s how you take a mistake on the way somebody drafted someone’s paycheck in the tune of, let’s say $15 a week. That puts you in a class action that costs you three hundred…, $400,000 because of an accounting error that became 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, if you had some lawyer you could talk to about your procedures (like the Watkins Firm) or 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. You see, 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 thing, like the old story of the aggressive lawyer 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.

First of all, 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 us, your lawyer, I would run a check to see if anything was filed already, because what I like to do is if I’m a plaintiff’s lawyer, I’m going to file it and not let you know until I’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.

And yet, if you treat them decently and under the law, that goes a long way if it ever gets to court.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you are a San Diego or Southern California who is aware of a dispute with an employee or group of employees 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.