Santa Rosa

Whether you work in the tourism, manufacturing or Santa Rosa employers are bound to follow numerous laws concerning their employees and other workers. However, whether through intentional misconduct or through oversight, they may perpetrate wage theft, or they may discriminate, harass, or retaliate against employees. Legal remedies exist to rectify these situations. Unfortunately, it can be stressful to assert your rights in situations where your employer has violated them, especially because companies tend to have greater resources than their employees. However, you can put yourself on equal footing to your employer by retaining a tenacious and seasoned Santa Rosa employment law attorney. Call the Calderone Law Firm, which has fought for workers for more than two decades.

Our firm represents employees in a wide range of lawsuits brought under federal, state, and local laws. We handle wage and hour lawsuits, including class action lawsuits, along with workplace discrimination, harassment, and whistleblower suits. In general, nonexempt employees, often those who work hourly wage jobs with little control over their work, receive the greatest protection under employment law. In order to sidestep these protections, some employers misclassify their workers as independent contractors or exempt employees. It’s important to be aware of this because the law has specific criteria by which we can look at whether you are a nonexempt employee, exempt employee, or independent contractor, and determine whether you have a claim under federal or state laws.

Federal and state laws prohibit workplace discrimination based on certain protected traits. Most of the time state law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) provides greater protection than federal law does against adverse actions taken against an employee or job applicant due to their protected trait. FEHA protects against workplace discrimination so long as the company in question has at least five employees; under FEHA, workplaces of every size are subject to the prohibition against sexual harassment, even those with just one employee. You may be wondering what counts as employment discrimination. It can take the form of firing, termination, layoffs, failure to hire, failure to interview or interviewing in a discriminatory way, failure to promote, disparate pay, and failure to provide access to training needed to conduct job duties. For example, if you and your coworker do the same job, but you are a woman who makes minimum wage, and he makes $5.00 more per hour, you likely have a claim for sex discrimination.

Employers must provide minimum wage, overtime, and meal and rest breaks according to the law’s requirements. There are many ways in which these laws are routinely violated. For instance, employees are sometimes told to work off the clock or asked to work during their meal break. If you were denied the full benefit of wage and hour laws such as by failure to pay minimum wage, failure to pay overtime, failure to provide meal or rest breaks, or being told to work off the clock, among other potentially actionable matters, you should call our firm. In some cases, we may be able to represent you and your coworkers who are similarly situated in a class action lawsuit. It’s necessary to retain seasoned class action lawyers for these claims; we have significant experience in this area.

Whistleblowers are employees who report their employers for actions that they reasonably and in good faith think are illegal or count as misconduct. Federal and state laws prohibit retaliation against whistleblowers. If you were retaliated against by your employer because you reported them to OSHA or to the police, you may have a claim. It can be wise to get our attorneys even before making the report.

Representation by a seasoned Santa Rosa employment law attorney can make a big difference to your case, whether you’re filing a lawsuit concerning wage and hour violations, discrimination, harassment, or whistleblower retaliation. Contact Calderone Law Firm by filling out our online form or calling us at (424) 348-8290.