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.
