PRO

Licensed for 52 years

Employment and labor Lawyer at San Diego, CA
Practice Areas: Employment & Labor, Discrimination, Wrongful Termination, Sexual Harassment

About Norman

Biography

Background

Norman wasborn in Washington, D.C. on January 31, 1948. He received his B.A. fromthe University of Wisconsin in 1970 and then proceeded to earn his J.D.from the Loyola University of Chicago in 1973. He was admitted to theBar in Illinois in 1973 and in California in 1976.

In1973 and until 1975, Norman was a Law Clerk to Justice Thomas J. Moranof the Illinois Supreme Court. He has been an instructor of Oil and GasLaw at the California Western School of Law in 1981 and the Universityof San Diego School of Law in 1983. Norman served as President andChairman of the Board of the San Diego Petroleum Club Inc. in 1985to1986. In addition, he held the position of the Chief OperatingOfficer and General Counsel for the Brumark Corporation from 1980 to1987.

One of California's Most Experienced Class Action Attorneys

Normanis a California class action pioneer. For over two decades, he has beenrepresenting employees and consumers in California in class actionlawsuits for the purpose of handling the next great case to championjustice in a world where business at the extremes takes unfairadvantage of employees and consumers. In total, Norman has obtainedover $1.3 Billion on behalf of employees and consumers. Moreimportantly, he has ushered in good public policy for the benefit ofall Californians everywhere.

As a resultof Jordan v. Cal. DMV, on June 8, 2000, the California Governor signedtwo bills passed by the Legislature, which found and declared thatapproximately 1,700,000 vehicle owners paid a an unconstitutional smogimpact fee imposed by California on out of state vehicles. Thisamounted to a $500 million in unconstitutional smog impact fees imposedon drivers. After interest, Norman helped settle this case for over$650 million dollars. Norman enabled over 1.7 million people getrefunds for a smog impact fee that was unconstitutional.

Overtime Wage Violations are a Serious Problem in California

Itis too easy for employees to assume that their paychecks reflect thetrue amount of hours they worked and money they earned. Employers arealways trying to tighten margins and unfortunately one of the firstplaces they look to do this is with the cost of labor. However, sincebusinesses still need the labor, they in fact do not cut back on laborcosts; instead, they simply start cheating employees out of the fullamount of overtime wages they earn.

Blumenthal,Nordrehaug & Bhowmik represents employees throughout California inlawsuits to collect unpaid overtime wages. The firm has the resourcesand experience to help employees fight back against illegal paypractices such as:

Employee’s being misclassified as exempt from overtime
Employee’s being misclassified as Independent Contractors
Employees working “off the clock”
Employees being cheated out of mandatory, off-duty meal and rest breaks
Employees not being reimbursed for work-related expenses
Employeesnot being paid overtime at one and a half times their regular rate ofpay for working hours in excess of eight in a workday or forty in aworkweek
Unpaid vacation time and holiday time

Mutable Timekeeping Systems are Red Flags for Overtime Violations

InCalifornia, employers are required to give all non-exempt employeesaccurate itemized wage statements. These wage statements must includeeverything from the amount of time the employee works to the amount ofmoney the employee makes for that particular time he or she is working.

Many employers don’t only fail to issueaccurate itemized wage statements with all of this information. Infact, employers frequently fail to even have a timekeeping system thatis capable of tracking all of the hours employees work. Some timetracking systems actually go as far as to not allow employees to recordand report overtime hours worked. Employees are suppose to receive oneand a half times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excessof eight hours in a workday, forty hours in a workweek, or for thefirst eight hours on a seventh consecutive day. In addition, employeesare entitled to receive two times the regular rate of pay for all hoursworked in excess of twelve in a single workday and double the regularrate of pay for all hours worked in excess of eight hours on a seventhconsecutive workday. How can employers pay employees the proper amountof wages if there is not even a timekeeping system that is capable oftracking and recording all of the time these employees work? What’smore, some employers have a timekeeping system that takes time awayfrom employees. For example, timekeeping systems that are subject tomanipulation are problematic because managers and supervisors may beinstructed by the company to reduce or erase the true amount of hoursthat employees work. In effect, employees are losing out on overtimewages and other wages that they earned through the performance oflabor.

Misclassifying Employees as Exempt is Immoral and Illegal

Thegeneral presumption in California is that all employees are entitled toovertime compensation for working more than eight hours in a singleday. They are also entitled to overtime compensation for working morethan forty hours in a workweek under both federal and state seek to avoid paying employees overtime wages bymisclassifying them as exempt from overtime. It is the employer’sburden to prove that the employees are in fact exempt from overtimebased on certain exemption tests, but employees rarely challenge theirexempt classifications and therefore employers get away with thesemisclassifications.

Here is a partial list of the types of employees that are regularly misclassified as exempt from overtime:

Employees performing manual labor
Employees performing clerical labor
Laboratory Technicians and managers
Computer Technicians
IT/IS Professionals
Managers and Supervisors
Security Guards
Armored Car Drivers and Guards
Waiters and Waitresses
Cable Technicians
Scientific Employees
Pharmaceutical Employees

Call to Learn About Your Employment Law Rights

Ifyou think that your employer may have committed illegal overtimepractices against you or your fellow employees, contact an experiencedovertime wage attorney at Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik offer all employees free consultations. We also represent employeeson a contingency basis, meaning that they never pay our attorneys asingle dollar until and unless we recover money for them. We have theresources and experience to represent workers in individual and classaction lawsuits throughout California communities such as San Diego,San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, Oakland, Sacramento andSanta Clara.

With 35+ years of experience, Norm has obtained over $1.3 billion for employees throughout the state

Practice Areas

4

Practice Areas

Discrimination 25%

25%

Employment and Labor 25%

Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik represents employees who have been treated unfairly by their former or current employers. The firm is a leader in the field of representing employees who are victims of wrongful wage practices. The firm also has great experience in other fields of law, such as wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, and so forth. Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik works on a contingency basis, meaning that employees don't pay attorney fees unless the firm wins them money,

26 years

25%

Sexual Harassment 25%

25%

Wrongful Termination 25%

25%

Fees and Rates

Cost

Contingency

25%-33%

Payment Methods

Check

Licenses

Licensed in California for 49 years

State: California

Acquired: 1976

Active

No misconduct found

Licensed in Illinois for 52 years

State: Illinois

Acquired: 1973

Active and Authorized to Practice Law

No misconduct found

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Location

Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik

2255 Calle Clara, San Diego, CA, 92037-3107

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Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik - Employment Attorneys

1750 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA, 94111

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Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik - Employment Attorneys

5201 Great America Pkwy #320, San Jose, CA, 95054

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Gallery

Online Presence

Other places you can find Norman online.

Norman B. Blumenthal's Reviews

Overall Rating
This is an aggregated review score of Avvo and Lawyers.com reviews.

5.0 /5.0

4 Client Reviews

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5.0

(3)

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5.0

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(3)

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1 star

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Showing 1 - 3 of 3 client reviews from Avvo

Posted by David | November 3, 2010

could not have wished for better labor lawyers

Blumenthal, Nordrehaug and Bhowmik is the best employment law class action law firm in california. Not only did they respond to my labor law inquiry within minutes of my message to bamlawca.com, but they also took charge of my case and walked me right through the entire process, explaining how it all... worked. This firm knows how to achieve the results employees are looking for in california.

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Posted by anonymous | September 25, 2010

Best Overtime Lawyer in California

I worked with Norman Blumenthal for 2 years on wage-and-hour lawsuits. He is the best overtime wage employment law attorney I have ever seen in action. He knows how to aggressively litigate individual lawsuits and class action cases. He has the resources and experience to fight for employees in all i...ndustries from San Francisco to Los Angeles. If you are an employee in California who was cheated out of wages, Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik is the firm you want to call.

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Posted by anonymous | August 23, 2010

Comfortably professional environment

I worked with Kyle Nordrehaug and Jon Zacharias on a case concerning unpaid overtime wages. They were extremely knowledgeable about this matter. The attorney, Kyle, was very easy to talk with and knew exactly how to handle my case. They were very open about how they wanted to handle this, what the... information I was providing was being used for, and also how the case was progressing. What's important to me is understanding the law; Kyle and his assistant, Jon, did an excellent job of explaining the law to me and how it related to my personal experience.

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Norman B. Blumenthal's Lawyer Endorsements

Endorse Norman

Ricardo Ehmann

Employment and labor lawyer | May 10

Relationship: Worked together on matter

"Norm is one of the best employment and labor attorneys in California. His track record and experience speaks for itself."

Donald Macrae

Employment and labor lawyer | Aug 19

Relationship: Worked for lawyer

"I endorse this lawyer's work."

Kyle Nordrehaug

Class action lawyer | Aug 19

Relationship: Co-worker

"I endorse this lawyer's work."

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Aparajit Bhowmik

Class action lawyer

Kyle Nordrehaug

Employment and labor lawyer

Robert Gerard

Class action lawyer