Being paid below Cali minimum wage and no breaks legal?
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Being paid below Cali minimum wage and no breaks legal?
I live in California and work for a company that has less than 25 employees. The owner says he wont be paying me the California minimum because he doesnt have to. He also says that he doesn’t have to give me a break after certain hours at work because I am part-time. He sometimes gives us ridiculous time frames where we can’t finish tasks and have to work 10 to 15 minutes without pay because that’s just how he is. I work around 5 to 8 hours a day with no break. I would also like to know if there is a law against an employer calling us names like stupid and incompetent in front of other employees or in front of costumers to make us look and feel bad in an agressive matter, etc.
Asked on January 12, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
Minimum wage *is* the legal minimum: that is, all employees, regardless of company size, must paid at least minimum; there is no exemption for small businesses. You may wish to contact your state department of labor to file a wage-and-hour complaint if you've not been paid minimum: you may be owed back wages (i.e. the extra money you should have received).
In your state, you must get a 30 minute (unpaid) meal break when working more than 5 hours in a day; it also appears that you need to get a paid 10-minute break for every 4 hours you work. So if you contact the department of labor, discuss the break situation with them, too.
However, employers are allowed to be rude, crude, profane, insulting, dismissive, etc., so he can call you names or try to make you fell bad.
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