How do you spot illegal wage and hour practices?
Although California has strong laws in place to protect employees, some employers engage in illegal practices anyway — especially when it comes to wages. The best ways to discover suspicious activity:
- Keep every paycheck and pay stubYour pay stub must be accurate and itemized. Compare it against the hours you actually worked.
- Keep your own record of hoursClock-in and clock-out times, off-the-clock work, and any "rounding" you notice in the employer's system.
- Keep a record of your breaksCalifornia requires paid rest breaks and unpaid meal periods. Skipped or interrupted breaks are owed as premium pay.
Look at your paychecks and ensure your income aligns with the hours you worked at no less than the applicable California minimum wage — which is higher than the federal minimum and may be higher still in your city. As of 2026 the California minimum wage is $16.90 an hour for employers of every size, and workers inside the City of San Diego must be paid at least $17.75. Separate, higher rates apply to fast-food and health-care employees. If you are receiving less for your hours worked, you can take legal action.
What counts as overtime in California?
California measures overtime by the day as well as by the week, which is why so much of it goes unpaid. Under Labor Code §510, a non-exempt employee is owed one and one-half times their regular rate for hours worked beyond eight in a workday, beyond 40 in a workweek, and for the first eight hours on the seventh consecutive day of work. Double time is owed beyond 12 hours in a day, and for every hour past eight on that seventh consecutive day.
The phrase that does the work there is regular rate. It is not always your base hourly wage — nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials and production incentives have to be folded in before the multiplier is applied. Employers that pay overtime on base rate alone underpay every single overtime hour, quietly and at scale. Our unpaid overtime guide walks through the triggers, the exemptions and what you can recover.
What are you owed when a break is missed?
Labor Code §512 entitles you to an unpaid 30-minute meal period before the end of your fifth hour of work, and a second meal period when you work more than ten hours. The applicable Industrial Welfare Commission wage order entitles you to a paid ten-minute rest period for every four hours worked, or major fraction of four hours.
When your employer fails to provide one, Labor Code §226.7 requires an additional hour of pay at your regular rate of compensation for that workday — and meal and rest violations are counted separately, so a single day can generate two premium hours. In Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services (2022) the California Supreme Court held that these premiums are wages, not merely penalties. That matters more than it sounds: unpaid premiums must appear on your wage statements, and they can trigger waiting-time penalties when you leave.
What if your final paycheck was late?
California requires that everything you are owed be paid at separation — immediately if you were fired, and within 72 hours if you quit without notice. When an employer willfully fails to do that, Labor Code §203 continues your wages as a penalty for every day the payment is late, up to 30 calendar days. For a full-time worker that is often more than a month of pay on top of the wages themselves. These penalties can be claimed within the same deadline as the unpaid wages (Labor Code §203(b)).
Are you actually an independent contractor?
Calling someone a contractor does not make them one. Under Labor Code §2775, which codified the California Supreme Court's decision in Dynamex, a worker is presumed to be an employee unless the hiring business proves all three parts of the ABC test: that the worker is free from the company's control in how the work is done, that the work falls outside the company's usual course of business, and that the worker independently runs a trade or business of the same kind. Specific professions and business-to-business relationships are exempted by statute, but the presumption starts in the worker's favor.
Misclassification is rarely a paperwork error. It is what lets a company avoid overtime, breaks, expense reimbursement, payroll taxes and workers' compensation all at once — which is exactly why these cases are so often brought on behalf of an entire group of workers rather than one.
How do you recover unpaid wages from an employer?
Filing a wage claim against your employer is the best way to hold them accountable for wages they failed to pay. You can recover unpaid or incorrect paychecks, overtime, break premiums, waiting-time penalties and any other missing wages you are owed.
Before filing, you will want an employment law attorney on your side. Employers have their own lawyers and these issues can be difficult to prove. Sullivan & Yaeckel Law Group has the skills to gather the necessary evidence and stand up to any size employer on your behalf.
How long do you have to file a wage claim in California?
Three years for the unpaid wages themselves, under Code of Civil Procedure §338(a), and four years when the same wages are pleaded under the Unfair Competition Law. Waiting-time penalties under §203 can be claimed as long as the underlying wages can (Labor Code §203(b)). Wage-statement penalties under §226 have a much shorter clock: one year. Because each paycheck starts its own clock, waiting can cost you more than the delay suggests.
What does it cost to bring a wage case?
Nothing upfront. We handle wage and hour matters on contingency and advance the costs of investigation and litigation. Several of the statutes above — including §226 and the Labor Code's wage provisions — require a losing employer to pay a successful employee's attorneys' fees, which is how workers with modest individual claims are able to take on employers of any size. If the same policy affected your coworkers, the case may proceed as a class or PAGA action.
We are prepared to discuss your case and determine what legal action should be taken — whether it is an individual claim or a case on behalf of everyone affected. We offer free consultations and charge nothing upfront. Our office is in San Diego, and we routinely handle cases in all State and Federal Courts throughout California — wherever in the state you live or work.