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As California employment attorneys, we regularly receive calls from concerned employees who have been denied a substantial portion of their hard earned wages. They are very concerned that they will never be able to prove what is genuinely owed to them. What they don\u2019t know is that the law favors their right to be honestly paid.<\/p>\n
Beginning in the early 1900\u2019s, when working conditions were deplorable, new laws were enacted to protect the wage earner from the abuses practiced by powerful companies.One extraordinary part of the new law was to place the burden on the employer to pay his employees what they are legally owed. This was accomplished by making the employer responsible for accurately keeping all necessary records in order to make the company accountable for all wages owed.<\/p>\n
The Labor code is different from almost every other area of law. Under almost all other statutes the party that is bringing the claim has to prove that his claim is valid, in other words the claimant has the burden of proof. This rule has been turned on its head in the labor statutes. Only very few areas of law that follows a similar rule. For example, one rare exception is found in the tax law. Under the tax code the taxpayer, as a defendant, must prove his return is correct and the IRS, as the claimant, only has to charge that the taxpayer is in error but does not have to prove its case until the taxpayer has presented proof that his tax return is properly stated.<\/p>\n
THE EMPLOYER, NOT THE EMPLOYEE, HAS THE BURDEN OF PROOF
\nAs to all facts in contention, the employer has the burden of proof.
\nThat means the following rules apply:
\nA) Record keeping – The law mandates that the employer has the burden of timely creating records to establish in detail, ALL hours worked by all employees who are entitled to overtime pay. Where there is a failure by the employer to maintain records of hours worked, then an employee’s estimates shall control as a matter of law.
\nB) Overtime Pay – The law presumes that the employee is entitled to be paid for all overtime hours and the employer has the burden of overcoming these presumptions and provide evidence that the employee is exempt from being entitled to overtime.
\nC) Right to Recover Attorney’s fees, Costs and Penalties. – The statutes provide that an employee is entitled to recover all his costs and attorney fees if he prevails on any part of his claim. In addition, he is entitled to recover interest and penalties.<\/p>\n