Wage theft in care work is rarely a refusal to pay. It is hours shaved off a timesheet, overtime paid at the flat rate, travel between clients treated as unpaid, breaks that never happen, and a final cheque that arrives late or not at all. Each one is small. Over three years they are not.
Is travel time between clients paid in California?
Time spent travelling between assignments during your working day is generally compensable. This is the single most common gap in home care pay, and it is worth checking your timesheets against your actual day.
The ordinary commute from home to your first client and back from the last one is treated differently. Everything in between generally is not a commute.
What overtime am I owed?
California overtime is daily as well as weekly: generally time and a half beyond eight hours in a day and beyond forty in a week, with further rules for very long days and the seventh consecutive day. That is more generous than federal law, and it is why an employer paying “overtime after forty” may still be underpaying you.
What if I do not get meal or rest breaks?
Where a compliant meal or rest break is not provided, California requires an extra hour of pay at your regular rate for each type, per day. In home care the honest reality is that breaks are often impossible; the law’s answer is that the employer pays for that, not that it does not count.
What happens if my final paycheque is late?
California provides waiting-time penalties of up to thirty days of your daily pay when a final cheque is not paid on time. That is on top of the wages themselves, and it is frequently worth more than the unpaid wages that triggered it.
I am paid as a 1099 contractor. Does this apply to me?
The label does not decide it. California applies a strict test to who may lawfully be treated as an independent contractor, and a worker who has been misclassified is generally owed everything an employee would have been owed — overtime, breaks, expenses, the lot.
How long do I have to claim unpaid wages?
Generally three years for most wage claims, and four where a written contract or an unfair competition claim applies. The clock runs backwards from the day you file, so every month you wait is a month of wages that drops off the far end of the claim. Claims against a public entity employer can carry much shorter notice requirements.
How do I file a wage claim in California?
You can file with the Labor Commissioner yourself, at no cost, using the DLSE process. That is a real option and for a straightforward unpaid-wages claim it is often the right one. An attorney becomes worth it where there are penalties stacked on top, where you were misclassified, where a group of workers is affected, or where complaining cost you hours or your job.
Can they punish me for asking about my pay?
Retaliation for raising a wage complaint is prohibited and is a separate claim with its own remedies. It usually appears as cut hours or a sudden schedule change rather than a firing, so keep a record of your hours before and after you raised it.
What should I keep?
Pay stubs for as far back as you have them, timesheets or your own notes of hours worked, every text or app message about shifts and corrections, and your contract. Keep your own record of hours — the employer’s record is the one that goes missing.
More on this is on our unpaid wages page.
Where to get help
Unified Savers is free for California healthcare workers. Tell us what is happening and we will point you at the right kind of attorney for it: find a lawyer.
Unified Savers is not a law firm and not a lawyer referral service. This article is general information about how this kind of matter works in California, not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines described here are general rules and exceptions frequently make them shorter.