California Labor Law and the "Science of Overtime"
California labor law and California overtime issues are shaking up the world of science. Many employees that one may think are relatively high level in terms of job title and income, and not entitled to overtime pay, actually are entitled to overtime pay. If you are a research scientist, research associate, research technician, laboratory technician, quality technician, laboratory analyst, or quality analyst you may indeed be entitled to overtime pay. Even more importantly, the burden of keeping time records lies on the employer. Therefore, in the event these employees are misclassified and determined to be non-exempt and entitled to overtime pay, if the employer failed to keep time records, the courts will rely on the reasonable testimony of the employee as to the hours worked.
It has been the long standing policy of many of the largest pharmaceutical companies and science and research companies to simply classify many of these job titles as “exempt” and not entitled to California overtime pay. In many instances, nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of these jobs require little independent judgment and discretion or meet the other strict criteria of exemptions from California overtime.
If an employee in any of these jobs titles, has been deprived of California overtime pay, under the law, such employees may be able to go back up to 4 years and collect their rightful overtime, interest and possibly some penalties under certain circumstances. Moreover, in California when bringing an overtime claim, there is a “one way” attorney fees clause whereby if the employee prevails they are entitled to recover their attorney fees. The opposite is not true for the employer. Their legal fees in defending a legitimate overtime claim are not recoverable.
Companies in the industries that may employ these types of employees discussed in this article are:
At United Employees Law Group, we have handled and are currently handling over 700 individual cases and over 150 class action cases, many against some of the largest corporations in the
It is important to understand that if you believe you have a claim, you need to speak to a
To be certain as to whether or not you are entitled to California overtime pay, it is important to talk to a qualified and experienced California labor law attorney.
Despite a wave of class action lawsuits, California employers continue to find ways to deny their workers overtime pay. Under California law, all employees are entitled to overtime pay unless they are considered “exempt.” Exempt employees are typically professionals, administrators, or executives whose jobs require among other things, a high degree of independent judgment. They must earn at least two times the minimum wage (approximately $28,000 per year) and more than fifty percent of their work must consist of non-exempt duties such as clerical duties, customer service, or working along specialized technical lines. A common strategy for employers is to misclassify employees as managers or assistant managers in order to avoid paying overtime; however, it is the employee’s activity and not their job title that determines whether overtime is due. Unlike federal law that focuses on the “primary duty” an employee is expected to perform, California law is based on what work the employee “engages in” or actually performs. For example, if a “manager” in an automobile company spends more than half of their time working on the line – 
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