Santa Clarita

Located in northwest Los Angeles County, and covering 70.75 square miles, Santa Clarita has a population of 228,673 as of the last census, making it the third most populated city in the county. Notable employers in the city are Six Flags Magic Mountain, Princess Cruises, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, Boston Scientific, The Master’s University, California Institute of the Arts, and Walmart. As in other cities, companies may violate their employees’ rights with regard to workplace discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour, overtime, or rest breaks. It is important to talk to effective Santa Clarita employment law attorneys about your concerns and your dispute. The principal of the Calderone Law Firm, Vincent Calderone, has decades of experience pursuing justice for wronged workers.

The wage and hour lawyers of the Calderone law firm represent clients in matters such as overtime, minimum wage, meal and rest breaks, whistleblowing, and uniforms. While the damages for a particular wage and hour claimant, such as one claiming occasional losses due to an employer’s failure to pay overtime, may be small, a class action allows for better relief. In a class action, plaintiffs pool evidence, resources and strategies in a single lawsuit and together, with seasoned attorneys to represent them, are able to achieve a fair outcome.

In most cases, nonexempt employees are most strongly protected under wage and hour law. Gig workers, independent contractors, and exempt employees do not have rights under wage and hour law. Some employers, in order to avoid the protections due to nonexempt employees, categorize them differently than what is appropriate under the law. Fortunately, worker classification is not left up to an employer’s preferences and is dictated by legal requirements. It’s important to talk to seasoned employers who can ensure you are classified correctly and obtain the relief to which you’re entitled

Numerous federal, state, and local laws prohibit employment discrimination in Santa Clarita workplaces. Whether you were sexually harassed or subject to disability discrimination or you were terminated because of your national origin, our lawyers can help.

The federal laws that prohibit discrimination are mostly enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). These include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, sex, national origin, color, and religion. However, federal laws tend to protect workers at midsize and larger companies.

Often, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits discrimination and harassment based on a wider range of protected characteristics. It applies to employers with at least 5 employees. In the case of sexual harassment, you are protected against it, even if you are your employer’s only employee.

Whistleblowers are those who report their employers for fraud and legal violations. Multiple federal laws protect whistleblowers including the Dodd-Frank Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the Whistleblower Protection Act. However, as a whistleblower, you may find strong protection under California laws such as the California False Claims Act and the state’s Whistleblower Protection Act.

Under the California False Claims Act, you can file a qui tam lawsuit if you become aware that your employer is defrauding the local, county or state government by knowingly submitting false claims for payment to the government. For example, if your employer is a hospital submitting false requests of payment to Medicaid, you may be able to file a qui tam lawsuit. With a qui tam lawsuit you can recover at most 3 times the actual losses of the government, along with fines of thousands of dollars for each violation. You are also protected against retaliation.

In most cases, an employee is at a considerable disadvantage when pitted against an unscrupulous employer. When you hire an effective attorney like the ones at the Calderone Law Firm, they can use insight gathered over years of employment litigation experience to seek the best result possible in your case. Complete our online form or call us at (424) 348-8290 for a free initial consultation.