Legal Question in Employment Law in California
For the final six months at my last job, I was working at least two hours a night of unpaid overtime. The overtime was unpaid because the company had decided it could no longer afford to pay it(I had previously been getting paid for this on-average 10hrs extra a week for the past year). I was told by my boss to stop working after eight hours, to just leave whatever work I had where it was and leave. However, I was told to make sure to finish x, y, z tasks for sure every night before leaving (I was last employee to leave each night).
I attempted to do this, by essentially not doing 2hrs worth of my non-xyz work, but was immediately questioned on why my efficiency had dropped. I kinda mentioned the whole issue, but being a meek person I just wanted to be an exemplary employee, so I did everything and slowly ended up back in my old schedule, except now my time sheets reported that I was leaving on time every day.
After six months of this, I was a bit fed up, and went to complain to my boss that it was unfair that I had to work this unpaid OT when (this next detail is unimportant to my question, just relevant to story) my team lead I felt wasn't pulling her weight, getting less done than everyone else, and leaving early before even her 8 hours were up.
I had been fairly sure my boss knew that I was doing all this overtime before this incident, as we had to sign in and out of the building both on paper and with our electronic key cards and i knew someone who had been caught by the key card swipes for leaving early. My boss confirmed that she was aware of the unreported overtime, and told me again "just don't do any overtime, but make sure you get x, y, and z tasks done." This time I complained that this was a catch22 statement, that I was being told not to do any overtime, but that I get reprimanded if I don't do all the work assigned to me which requires overtime. She told me just to work more efficiently.
About 3 weeks later I was written up for taking too long of a lunch break. A month after that I was written up for arriving late and warned if I was late again I'd be fired. A month after that I was fired. Whether the firing was ridiculous or not (it was) doesn't matter, but I thought I should mention it. The unemployment department of California ruled in my favor concerning it and im now receiving unemployment anyway. (victory!)
So I guess my question is, do I have any right to all the unpaid overtime I worked (10 hrs/week for six months) in this situation? I was "told" not to do it, sort of, but was never reprimanded for doing it anyway, and they fully knew I was doing so. Not even when they made up a bunch of balogney in order to fire me did they reprimand me for it, instead saying I was taking too long of lunches.
It's been almost 3 months since i was let go. Is it too late to do anything, or was there never anything to be done in the first place?
1 Answer from Attorneys
It is not too late. You should be able to get your unpaid overtime from your employer even after you leave your employment. In fact, generally, you can go back up to four years in the past. You should speak to an experienced California employment lawyer about your rights in your specific situation. My office handles cases like this all the time. 213 201 9331.
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