Legal Question in Business Law in California

Regardless of who is your employer, your 'options' are to walk away and do nothing, or bring a claim for unpaid compensation against the company. You are entitled to all your unpaid wages, OT, plus interest and penalties, and your attorney fees if you win.

If serious about hiring counsel to represent you in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me. I�ll be happy to help fight and get the best outcome possible

I'm not sure I'd take the same tack as Mr. Nelson seems to advocate. While one option is certainly to press a claim with the state labor authorities for nonpayment of wages, there seem to be other problems that need to be addressed in your relationship with your employer, who also happens to be your father. I think in the longer run your better option may be to analyze what is wrong in your family relationship and try to correct it. In addition, going on the offensive with state agencies might be unproductive, if you were taken on as a junior partner, apprentice or some kind of trainee in a family business, Long and short of it, I think you and your father need to try to work out your differences in private ... especially if you have hopes of becoming part of a family business and maybe inheriting it some day.

Assuming you are not a child or a student worker, the fact that your employer is your parent is not determinative in whether you are entitled to be paid. Employment laws require that a worker be paid at least minimum wage for every hour they were at work (even if the work was substandard or there wasn't much to do, for that matter). And, in case this is part of your situation, an employer is (generally) not permitted to deduct breakage or repayment of living expenses or other costs from wages. If you have not been paid money you believe is owed to you, you should contact the California Labor Commission (there is more information on their website about procedures). They can collect the wages for you, along with penalties and interest that may be owing.