Let Us Count The Ways

Jon-Erik Storm asks, Why Does Everyone Diss the DLSE?

I was preparing to explore the theorizing that I and other bloggers did in the wake of Genrty that it would have implications for employment contracts in general, when I came across this footnote in the recent Murphy v. Check ‘N Go case. “Plaintiff requests judicial notice of information on the process for bringing claims before the Labor Commissioner, which is offered to show that this process ‘does not provide the same protections for the employee and is not an adequate substitute for a court proceeding. . . .’” (Slip. Op. at 9-10 n.1)
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There are so many reasons: they are slow; they do not apply uniform standards; they are not taken seriously by defendants; they change policies depending upon the whim of the governor; they often don't follow the law; they lack the resources to effectively resolve large volumes of cases; they pass regulations without following appropriate protocols; they file amicus briefs against you even if they represented you when you won at trial.

Plus, they have the day off today, and we don't.

Comments

[James Peters]

True story:

I represented an employee whose employer simply stopped paying him for about a month before he simply quit. He was salaried, but incorrectly classified as exempt, so we had an overtime and minimum wage case.

We went to a hearing on the claims and the employee testified that he went to work at the same time pretty much every day and left about the same time. The employer (represented by their HR rep) disputed this orally, but did not introduce any evidence to support it and did not keep any record of hours worked whatsoever. The hearing went well and I felt pretty good about it afterwards.

Five days later the hearing officer issued an opinion finding in my client's favor, but awarding him no money at all because we did not introduce any evidence to prove how many hours he worked each day. It should be noted that the employer alleged that the employee worked 8 hours each day (and did not receive any wages at all).

It's the Wild West over there and the good guys don't always benefit from their quackery.