Labor Laws in US California

[kandrathe]

BTW, she works in the Housekeeping/Restaurant industry.

My scans on Labor law for California confirms what shoju reported for Canada on breaks between shifts, there are no rules except for certain types of employees where safety is an issue.

There are however OT laws that relate to total work hours within a "work day", and a "work week". Most companies measure from midnight to midnight. Check her employers rules on what defines a work day. Her 1 hour past midnight probably counts as an hour into the next work period, so if they have her work a full eight hour shift the following day, they owe her for an hour of overtime each time they do this to her. If they have her close, and she really punches out at 1:30 then she is 1 1/2 hours into the next work day already. California's overtime laws are more strict than Federal laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtime#Ca...ertime_law

http://finduslaw.com/node/4/#20

Read section 500 and 511 regarding alternative work week rules (4 x 10 hour days versus 5 x 8 hour days).

Check her past pay stubs, to document every time they've worked her more than eight hours within a work period, or more than 40 hours with in a work week without paying her overtime pay. If they do this to all employees and have done so for many years, they might be facing a huge state law violation and an expensive class action lawsuit.

The nastiest part is the army of State auditors rummaging through all your employment documents figuring out how much the company should be fined, plus the back taxes they owe, and the missing SSI and FICA. I hear California needs the extra income too, so it's like blood in the water.