If your employer has broken any federal law or state law in California, then you are eligible to file a wage claim against him or her. In California, generally wage claims are filed in case the employer fails to provide the minimum wage or fails to provide overtime or meal expenses. If you want to file a wage claim against your employer, then you need to fill out several forms. First, you will have to fill Form 1 and then submit it to the DLSE office. In this form, you will be asked about your current employer, your work hours and the reason behind filing the claim. Depending on the reason, you may have to file several other forms like:

i) In case you are filing a claim due to unreasonable work schedule, then you need to fill form No 55.

ii) If your employer has failed to pay you commission, then you need to fill Form 155.

Filling these forms can be quite tricky. If you make any mistakes, then your claim may get rejected. Hence, it is advisable to ask a lawyer to review your forms. United Employees Law Group can help you out in this regard.

Documents required: Along with the form, DLSE may also ask you to submit some documents like:

1. Time records: They may ask you to submit some proof showing the number of hours and days you have worked over there. In case your office maintains a journal, then you can submit a copy of it as proof.

2. Payslips: You may also have to submit payslips to show how much wage you were getting paid. For cases related to unpaid wages, they are very important.

3. Bounced check: In case checks from your employer have bounced, then you need to submit a copy of those checks.

4. Notice of Employment: You may also have to submit the notice of employment, where your name, wage rate and address are mentioned.

The DLSE will also ask your employer to send all these documents. Hence, even if you have lost them, you don’t have to worry.

Time Limit: In case of most violations like failure to pay minimum wage or overtime, you have to file the claim within 3 years of the date of violation. However, it is advisable to file the claim as soon as possible. This way, it will be easier for you to get hold of all the latest documents.

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Wage Claims

Deductions from wages are prohibited by law unless the worker specifically authorizes it in writing in advance under the S13 Employment Rights Act 1996. This is so even if the money is owed to the employer by the worker.

It sometimes happens that a worker is dismissed but fails to return equipment or perhaps safety clothing which the employer has paid for or supplied. In this situation, the employer is still not entitled to deduct the value of the items from the final wages payment without written agreement from the employee.

In other words, the employer is not entitled to take the law into his own hands.

The employer is of course entitled to recover money which is due to him, but it cannot be recovered by deductions from the worker’s wages without the worker’s agreement.

Under The Act “wages” simply means “any sums payable to the worker by his employer in connection with his employment”. This includes any fee, bonus, commission or holiday pay, whether payable under the worker’s contract or otherwise.
Despite the fact that an employer has no work available, he or she is still obligated to continue to pay employees who are willing to work.

Employees should also receive pay if they are sick or away on parental leave. This pay, though, may be less than normal depending on the contract. By law, most employees are entitled to the legal minimum statutory sick pay.

There are a number of circumstances where an employer can make deductions from an employee’s pay.

* Deductions for tax and national insurance are legal requirements.

* Furthermore, a clause in the employment contract can allow for deductions that cover union dues or

* payments to a pension scheme.

Other deductions will have to be agreed in writing before they are carried out. If an employer decides a deduction should be made, he or she must write to the employee giving details of the deduction. The deduction should be made within 12 months of the discovery of the shortage.

If a worker believes that their employer has made an unlawful deduction of wages, the first thing to do is to raise the issue with the employer. The worker should say when the deduction took place, and that there was no written agreement for the deduction to take place.

If the employer refuses to repay the money in question, then it may be possible to present a complaint to an Employment Tribunal.

There is a time limit for the case to be presented of 3 months from the date of the disputed wage payment. This limit can be extended if the tribunal considers that it was not practicable to present the claim within the 3 month period.

The tribunal can order the employer to repay money taken unlawfully from a worker. There is no cash limit on the amount that the tribunal can order to be repaid.
Many times we see the labors or employees being treated badly, harassed or mis conducted by the big companies or individuals. There is lot of instances when the employers exploit the employees by asking them to work overtime and then do not pay for that extra time or the labors of different races being treated differently in terms of pay or behavior. There are also cases when employees are being wrong fully terminated from their job without any reason. Further employees are harassed by the people who are in top positions.

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