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Wage Claims, Overtime & Other Employee Compensation

HOW WAGE AND HOUR CLASS ACTIONS BENEFIT EMPLOYEES

     There are valid wage claims that are too small to require a lawsuit. If they are litigated, the litigation may cost too much and the payoff may not be worth the problem. Employees also fear retaliation from the employer. Sometimes, employees simply do not know their rights. These are some reasons why small wage claims are rarely pursued and employers continue to get away with their violations.

     However, if the employee is but one of many other employees who is not paid overtime despite working more than 8 hours per day or more than 40 hours per week, or are not provided meal breaks, they may be able to assert their rights as a group. They can do this by means of a class action.

What Is a Wage and Hour Class Action?
     It is a lawsuit by an employee or a small group of employees (called the class representative) on behalf of themselves and all other employees who have the same employment claims. Class actions involve a common issue, such as employees being denied overtime wages by their employer. The class action is brought because the employer’s violation of the law is typical of the employer’s treatment of its other employees.

What are the Advantages of a Class Action?
     A class action benefits employees for the following reasons:

     1) If the individual wage claim is modest and may prove costly if pursued as an individual action, a class action will provide low-wage workers with a relatively inexpensive way to resolve their claims. Note that employees or class members do not pay out-of-pocket fees to attorneys. It is only upon the resolution of the class action and after court approval that the attorneys are paid for their work.

     2) A class action may minimize the risk of retaliation against an employee member of the class. Current employees who individually sue their employers may face a greater risk of retaliation. This fear may cause aggrieved employees to keep silent and endure the violation. Courts have recognized that fear of retaliation for individual suits against an employer justifies a class certification in an employment litigation even if the number of employees necessary to form a class has not been met.

     3) A class action may serve to notify, inform, and educate employees who do not know that their legal rights have been violated. For example, some workers, particularly immigrants with limited English language skills, may be unfamiliar with the overtime laws. Even English-speaking or better educated employees may become confused with the complexities of the laws. Also, some employers misinform their employees that they are not eligible for overtime.

     4) Government resources which handle wage claims are inadequate. If there are one thousand employees from the same employer individually making the same claims before the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), a deluge of such claims would simply outstrip the resources of the DLSE, affecting not only these claims but other unrelated claims as well. Without private enforcement through class actions the DLSE’s resources to resolve labor claims would be overtaxed. Class actions can prevent 'a failure of justice in our judicial system' by enforcing legal rights and statutory sanctions.

     A class action is a potent weapon available to employees in order to challenge labor violations by the employer. It will compel an employer, who engages in minimal but widespread violation against each individual employee, to properly compensate these employees for their valid claims. More importantly, a class action may be the only way to impose the costs of labor violations on the employer. A class action sends the message that violation of laws that protect employees can be ultimately expensive, and thus, deter future violations.

© Law Offices C. Joe Sayas, Jr.