Were your coworkers shorted too?

When wage theft is a pattern

If your employer rounds everyone's time down, skips everyone's breaks or pays everyone a flat day rate with no overtime, the problem isn't your paycheck alone. Signs it may affect a group:

• Coworkers in the same job are paid the same way you are.
• The problem comes from a written policy, a scheduling system or a manager's standing instruction.
• Breaks are routinely cut short or skipped because of staffing.
• Everyone has to do something before clocking in or after clocking out, like security checks or booting up equipment.
• A whole group was labeled "independent contractors" or "exempt."

Class actions

A class action lets one or more workers bring a case on behalf of everyone the policy affected (California Code of Civil Procedure section 382). Each worker can recover their unpaid wages, and California's wage laws let workers who win recover attorney's fees and costs from the employer in many wage cases (for example, Labor Code section 1194 for unpaid minimum wage and overtime).

Unpaid wage claims generally must be filed within three years (Code of Civil Procedure section 338), and some claims can reach back four years when they're brought under California's Unfair Competition Law (Business and Professions Code section 17208). Waiting can cost you money, because older pay periods fall outside the deadline.

PAGA claims

California's Private Attorneys General Act (Labor Code sections 2698 and following) lets a worker who personally suffered a Labor Code violation recover civil penalties on behalf of the state and other affected employees. Part of the penalties goes to the state and part goes to the workers. PAGA claims start with a written notice to the state's Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and they have a shorter deadline, generally one year.

Many employers make workers sign arbitration agreements that block class actions. A PAGA claim can sometimes go forward even then. Whether one fits your situation depends on your agreement and your facts.

Is it safe to speak up?

California law makes it illegal to fire or retaliate against you for complaining that you're owed unpaid wages, whether you complain in writing or out loud (Labor Code section 98.6).

General information about California law, not legal advice for your situation. Laws change, and the right move depends on your facts.