Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Employer owes back pay for the last two and half years where he did not pay for live-in services. I work as a live-in for a company that provides care to consumers with mental disabilities. M-F work taking care of the consumer I lived with and my employer said that was to cover rent. Had to work weekends to make money just to cover other expenses. Is this legal? My employer says now that he owes me for the money up and beyond the payment of rent once I told him that making even minimum wage working the number of hours I was should have paid my rent and then some. The thing is he wants to settle on a few thousand and I know that he owes me well over that. Not only that in the last five years that I have worked for the company I have never received a raise, gotten any sick leave or vacation pay, or been offered any forms of benefits. I also had a diabetic attack while on the job, hospitalized for a few days and then as soon as I returned home I had to go back to work. That is where the no sick leave really hit hard. I believe that a lot of the way my boss runs his business is pretty shady and I believe that I have a pretty good law suit on my hands but am curious as to what a professional thinks. Thank you very much.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You clearly have been taken advantage of and need an advocate to help you. You should be consulting with employment law attorneys in your area. One source, is with the California Employment Lawyers Association, whose website is at www.celaweb.org . Click on the member search list and look for attorneys in your county who handle wage and hour cases.