Practice area

Unpaid Wages & Overtime

You worked the hours. California says you get paid for every one of them. If your employer shorted your overtime, skipped your breaks, or held your final paycheck, we recover it. Free consultation, and no fee unless we recover money for you.

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01 · The premise

You worked the hours. You get paid for the hours.

You worked the hours. California says you get paid for every one of them. If your employer shorted your overtime, skipped your breaks, or held your final paycheck, we recover it. Free consultation, and no fee unless we recover money for you.

California wage law is stricter than federal law, and it is broken in ordinary, unglamorous ways. Overtime paid at the wrong rate. Breaks that never happened. A final paycheck that arrived late, or never arrived at all.

The Law Offices of Jonathan J. Delshad represents employees only. We never act for the company on the other side.

02 · The detail

What counts as unpaid wages in California

Wage theft rarely looks like theft. It looks like this:

§ 01

Overtime paid at the wrong rate, or not paid at all

§ 02

Meal and rest breaks missed, cut short, or worked through

§ 03

Off the clock work before a shift, after a shift, or during lunch

§ 04

A final paycheck that came late, or never came

§ 05

Bonuses and commissions left out of the overtime rate

§ 06

Deductions taken from your pay that the law does not allow

§ 07

Being called a contractor while you work like an employee

§ 08

Tips pooled with, or taken by, managers

03 · The detail

How California overtime actually works

Federal law counts overtime by the week. California counts it by the day as well, and the daily rule is where most of the money goes missing.

If you are a nonexempt employee in California, you earn:

§ 01

1.5x your regular rate after 8 hours in a day

§ 02

2x your regular rate after 12 hours in a day

§ 03

1.5x your regular rate after 40 hours in a week

§ 04

1.5x for the first 8 hours of a seventh straight workday, then 2x

04 · The case

Your breaks are wages

For every four hours you work, you are owed a paid ten minute rest break. Before the end of your fifth hour, you are owed a thirty minute meal break, unpaid and free of duties.

When your employer denies one, you are owed an extra hour of pay at your regular rate for that day. Meal premiums and rest premiums are separate, so a single day can carry two of them.

They accumulate faster than people expect. One missed meal break a week, across three years, is roughly 150 hours of extra pay.

05 · The detail

Your final paycheck had a deadline

§ 01

Fired or laid off

your final wages were due immediately, on your last day.

§ 02

Quit with 72 hours notice

due on your last day.

§ 03

Quit without notice

due within 72 hours.

06 · In focus

What you can recover

A wage claim is more than the money you were shorted.

WhatWhat it covers
Unpaid wagesThe overtime, minimum wage and off the clock hours you were never paid
Meal and rest premiumsOne hour of pay for each missed break, per day
Waiting time penaltiesUp to 30 days of your daily wage on a late final paycheck
Wage statement penaltiesUp to $4,000 where your itemized pay stubs were inaccurate
InterestOn the wages you were owed, from the date they were owed
Attorney's feesRecoverable from the employer on most wage claims

Since January 1, 2026, a California court can add a penalty of up to three times an unpaid wage judgment when an employer simply ignores it. Stalling now costs the employer more than paying.

07 · The rules

The law behind your claim

These are the sections your claim is built on. You do not need to know them to call us, but they are what we will be citing on your behalf.

Statutes on point

The law behind this

Filed under
The law behind your claim
Labor Code § 510
daily overtime. Time and a half past 8 hours in a day, double time past 12.
Labor Code § 512
meal breaks. A 30 minute break before the end of your fifth hour of work.
Labor Code § 226.7
the premium. One extra hour of pay for every meal or rest break you were denied.
Labor Code § 201
final pay when fired. Your wages were due immediately, on your last day.
Labor Code § 202
final pay when you quit. Due within 72 hours, or on your last day if you gave notice.
Labor Code § 203
the waiting time penalty. Your daily wage keeps running for up to 30 days when final pay is late.
Labor Code § 226
your pay stubs. Up to $4,000 when the itemised statements were wrong.
Labor Code § 1194
what you recover. The unpaid wages, the interest on them, and your legal fees from the employer.

General information, not legal advice. The rules and deadlines that apply turn on your facts.

Confirm your deadline
08 · The ground

Where this happens most in Los Angeles

Wage claims cluster in the industries that run on shift work and thin margins. In this county that means healthcare and care homes, restaurants and hospitality, retail, warehouse and delivery work, construction, security, and film and television production. Tech and startups show up too, usually through misclassification rather than missed breaks.

If your industry is not on that list, it changes nothing. The rules are the same everywhere in California.

09 · In focus

Two routes, and they are not equal

You can file with the California Labor Commissioner, or you can sue.

The Labor Commissioner is free, needs no lawyer, and handles straightforward individual claims well. It is slower than most people expect, and the hearing is a real hearing.

A civil lawsuit fits larger claims, group claims, misclassification, and cases where the penalties and fees are worth more than the wages. Because attorney's fees are recoverable from the employer on most wage claims, a lawyer costs you nothing up front.

We will tell you which route fits your facts on the first call, including when the free route is the better one for you.

10 · The case

Deadlines run quietly

Most California wage claims reach three years back. Some reach four when brought as an unfair business practice. Claims on a written contract can run four.

Every day you wait, the oldest week of your claim drops off the end. If you are near a limit, the clock matters more than the paperwork does.

11 · The detail

How it works

§ 01

Free, confidential consultation. You tell us what happened. We tell you what the law says about it.

§ 02

We gather the proof. Pay stubs, schedules, time records, texts. Your employer is required to keep most of it and required to give you copies.

§ 03

We calculate the number. Wages, premiums, penalties and interest, added up properly.

§ 04

We act. We make the demand, file with the Labor Commissioner, or file suit.

§ 05

Most cases resolve without a trial.

12 · In focus

Talk to a California wage and hour attorney

Bring your last few pay stubs and your schedule to a free, confidential consultation. We will tell you what you appear to be owed and what recovering it would take.

Free consultation. No fee unless we recover money for you.

Get a free consultation Free & confidential · $0 unless we win
The record

$26M+ recovered for employees — and a $7.6M lead verdict the other side respects.

$26M+
Recovered for clients across California
$7.6M
Lead verdict, whistleblower retaliation
$0
Our fee unless we win your case
10.0
Avvo “Superb” · Super Lawyers · Best Lawyers

Past results do not guarantee a future outcome. Every case is unique. Figures reflect gross recoveries before fees and costs. Attorney advertising.

Related results

Wins on this kind of case.

Recoveries from matters like the one you may have. Past results do not guarantee a future outcome.

Rhea Devlugt v. Mario Barrett et. al.
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Common questions

The questions people ask first.

Short, straight answers. The specifics depend on your situation — that’s what the free review is for.

No. Asking about your pay, filing a wage claim, or speaking to a lawyer is protected activity in California. If you are fired, demoted, or have your hours cut afterwards, that is a separate retaliation claim, and it is often worth more than the wages were.

Yes. Salary alone does not make you exempt. Exemption depends on your actual duties and on meeting a minimum salary threshold. Misclassified salaried employees are one of the most common wage claims in this state.

Often not. An employer cannot condition your earned wages on signing a release. A release bought with money you were already owed may not hold up.

California applies the ABC test. You are presumed an employee unless the business proves all three parts of it. Receiving a 1099 instead of a W-2 does not settle the question.

Nothing up front. Wage claims let the employee recover attorney's fees from the employer, so we handle them on contingency. The first consultation is free.

No. Your employer is legally required to keep those records and to give you copies on request. Missing records tend to hurt the employer, not the employee.

No. California wage protections apply to every worker regardless of status, and the Labor Commissioner does not ask about it.

The first step costs nothing

Tell us what happened. We read it free.

Send it in a sentence or two. If there’s a case, we’ll tell you what it is and what to do next. If there isn’t, we’ll tell you that too — straight, and at no cost.

Confidential from the first call$0 unless we winA straight answer

Prefer to talk? Call (424) 255-8376 — a real person answers.

Free case review

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