NICODEMUS Plumbing, a company in Cypress, California was ordered to pay its 44 employees $858,840.20 in wages and $230,050 in fines for violations of California’s laws concerning overtime pay and record-keeping.
The California Labor Commissioner’s office had investigated the plumbing contractor and found that the company failed to pay overtime to its employees. It accused the company of intentionally falsifying certified payroll records by shaving the number of hours actually worked by its workers. The time-shaving practice resulted in the underreporting of the hours worked by its employees, which subsequently led to the underpayment of these hours.
California law mandates that employers pay its employees for all “hours worked.” This means employees must be paid for all the time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer. Furthermore, employers are required to keep accurate records of hours worked in ink or other indelible form. Time-shaving is a practice where employers alter the time records of employees in order to reduce their total hours worked, thus reducing employees’ wages. Needless to say, time-shaving practices are illegal in California.
The practice is common. We helped a group of couriers who experienced this violation. The employer used an electronic timekeeping system which tracked the couriers’ hours and was the basis for their wages. To record their time, the couriers were required to call in to a toll-free number and enter their employee information to clock in and out. The couriers were required to punch in and out precisely at their assigned start and end times, regardless of whether they have actually started or ended work at an earlier or later time. Any punch in or out beyond their shift hours were not recorded in the system.
Before the couriers’ hours in the system were submitted to the payroll department, the employer’s supervisors reviewed, edited and approved the hours. When couriers punched in times beyond their assigned shifts, supervisors changed the time entries without written authorizations from the couriers. This manipulation resulted in reducing the couriers’ recorded work hours, eliminating overtime, and correspondingly reducing their wages.
In order to uncover the employer’s illegal practice, our law firm had to employ the services of technology and data experts who were able to detect and analyze exactly what was being done to deprive the employees of their rightful wages. Once confronted with evidence of their misconduct, the employer and its attorneys were compelled to settle the case.
Even though employers are required by law to keep accurate time records, employees cannot simply rely on an employer’s time-keeping records to substantiate claims for hours worked. This is true particularly if employers engage in illegal conduct to reduce labor costs and increase their bottom-line. If employees suspect that they are not paid for all their hours, they may keep a contemporaneous personal diary of their hours worked.
However, absent a personal record, there might still be other means that employees can prove their hours worked. Such employees would be better served to consult with an experienced employment attorney to discuss their options.
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C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is an experienced trial attorney who has successfully obtained significant results, including several million dollar recoveries for consumers against insurance companies and big business. He is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum—a prestigious group of trial lawyers whose membership is limited to those who have demonstrated exceptional skill, experience and excellence in advocacy. He has been featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements for his professional accomplishments and recipient of numerous awards from community and media organizations. His litigation practice concentrates in the following areas: serious personal injuries, wrongful death, insurance claims, unfair business practices, wage and hour (overtime) litigation. You can visit his website at www.joesayas law.com or contact his office by telephone at (818) 291-0088.