Fired After Complaining About Being Misclassified as an Exempt Employee

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: California

Let me give a little back story. A month ago I found out I was getting paid wrong. I was classified as exempt according to my employer. I did not get paid OT, I was paid a salary. I found out that the salary did not meet the minimum requirements to be "exempt". So I spoke up, first to my direct supervisor. He told me that since I don't work much overtime, no more than 3-5 hours a week that I should grin and bare it. I was not happy with this, so I sent an email to the owners of the company. (It is very small, this is not out of the ordinary to deal with them directly) THey were not happy with my email and said that I was unprofessional. I have copies of the email, and I do not believe I was unprofessional at all, just straight forward and to the point. Regardless, after this happened... He directed me to meet with HR the following Monday, and she informed me that I was being switched to hourly and would no longer receive the same benefits(vacation, paid holidays, etc) and they even took away vacation I had already used (so I was NEGATIVE in my vacation hours)

Fast forward 3 weeks, they had put another person on salary just above my wage(I do payroll, so I see everyone's salary and know their hours) He had worked over 20 hours of OT, and I had sent an email asking why he was on salary and what was I to do with his OT now? I was informed to pay him his OT just this one time, and from that point forward he would only receive his salary because his "salary" was based on a 6 day work week with 10 hours a day.

They also told me not to pay a few select individuals who had done an OSHA training class with us, but had not started work. I asked why, seeing as the OSHA class is required and is paid training. They said "That's what we have always done"

Also, the HR lady has been sending emails and having meetings asking to gain access to the payroll and timekeeping systems because she says she needs to have access to the information in them.

Yesterday, I was pulled into the office and given a write up for "excess absences". I have missed a total of 5 days in 10 months. On the write up it said it was "second" warning. I refused to sign it because I was never given a first warning/verbal. HR told me when she talked to me about my change to hourly that she talked about it then. I actually recorded the conversation and she did not mention anything about excess absences to me.

As of today, I was still listed as exempt salary in the system we use.

At the end of my work day today I was informed I was being laid off.

I feel like ever since I mentioned them not paying me correctly, and questioning the way they are not paying people correctly or at all, I have been retaliated against.

My question is, do I have a claim for wrongful termination?

What are your job responsibilities?

(Whether you're exempt or non-exempt depends on this, not how you're paid)

Tracking all hours for all employees(~200)
Job costing all hours employees work by job and by work item specifically worked on
Entering all hours for payroll & transmitting
Processing all garnishments/IWO's/Salary verification etc.
Tracking all differential rates for employees
Entering all vacation/sick time for all employees
Tracking attendance for all employees
Verifying headcount for entire company daily(on each job site)
Tracking all badge expiration dates (we use them to gain access to different job sites)
Tracking all certification expiration dates for OSHA and other licenses we may need for various employees
Processing all manual checks/loans to employees
Distributing paychecks
Processing all per diem checks

Thanks. I did check your post hx too, and yes, it does look like you were misclassified. Alas that's not something I can help you with but stand by for those who can :)

I, too, agree you were misclassified.

In your prior thread, I recommended that you contact the DLSE. Did you do so?

No, I did an informal complaint and they "fixed" my misclassification. They did wind up paying me my OT out. I was told not to clock in or out, but to keep track of my hours on my own. And was still listed as a salary exempt employee. But paid "hourly"... if that makes sense.

Kind of feels like retaliation for me sticking up for myself..

I also kept records of the complaint and the response I got. Exactly one month prior to my "lay off"

As long as you are paid for each hour worked and overtime over 40, how you are asked to keep track of your hours or how you are "listed" is immaterial.

After I filed the complaint with the owner I was paid all OT. I was more so wondering if this is "retaliation"

Quote:

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Quoting flyingron

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As long as you are paid for each hour worked and overtime over 40, how you are asked to keep track of your hours or how you are "listed" is immaterial.

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I think his questions are about the layoff, not the misclassification any more.

And I think it's more than time to bring the DLSE into this.

And I am not at all sure that they're going to be too helpful. File at once for unemployment benefits. Since you are laid off, you should have a clean claim to draw benefits. The company has decided to get rid of the complainer. They say "lack of work" and "laid off" you repeat that to the unemployment office and you are within a few weeks pretty likely to be approved for unemployment. DO NOT try to go into the whole "retaliation" issue with the unemployment office. They do not care and are not the venue to bring this up in. They will hopefully approve your unemployment claim if it works out that way. THEN talk to the DSLE, talk to a labor attorney in your area. And most importantly, move forward finding a better job. It is not very likely that you're going to have any sort of retaliation case that helps you in the immediate future. While there may be something there, it will definitely take a while to get this looked into. And it is never likely that you're going to get your old job back with the problems fixed. It is really impossible to fix a bad workplace, where it sounds like the folks running the show are seriously interested in screwing the employees as much as they can get by with.