A law firm office manager/paralegal quit her job via email after working hours had ended on a Friday, expected a check, in the amount due to her for unpaid vacation time, within the 72-hours following her email. According to California Labor Code §202, it is required that employers are to “pay all owed wages to at-will employees within 72 hours of that employee quitting without notice.” California Labor Code §203 also entitles that employees be entitled to waiting time penalties for violations of that rule equal to his/her daily wages per day that the payment is not received, up to 30 days.
This employee did not receive anything until Tuesday; which was more than 72-hours after she sent the email; although their claim that the email was received and read on Saturday would have satisfied that 72-hour limit. An additional claim made by the employee against her employer was that the initial check was drafted with a typo and issued with the incorrect amount. Several days passed before she received a check with the correct amount showing on it. This time-period, plus all legal fees paid, were granted to the employee as per the decision made by the Judge assigned to the case.
Regardless of when the email was received, on Friday night or some time on Saturday when the email was read, the 72-hour requirement was still met, according to the decision. But the error made on the check, while found to not have been willful, was still brought to the attention of the employer immediately and should have been corrected immediately, something the employer failed to do. The time the employee was then forced to wait until a corrected check was issued is the amount of time that the employee is now due, plus legal fees, according to the opinion of the Judge.
The employer contested the award of the legal fees back to the employee, claiming that because she did not win the total that she had asked for, this means that she only received partial victory so she should not be rewarded her legal fees in addition to the amount due in waiting time penalties. The Judge rejected this claim as well, as he cited §98.2 in which he wrote that the cases cited by the employer were not relevant to the case at hand.As clearly shown by this example, there can be a fine line of when the clock starts on the 72 hour window after an at will employees employment ends. A consult package with Rupal Law gives you the peace of mind of knowing your legal support and guidance is just a phone call away. Contact us today to learn more and take the first step towards compliance knowledge and avoidance of unexpected legal fees. www.rupallaw.com
