An employer pays a non-exempt employee less than the legal minimum wage. The employee may recover the unpaid balance, and California law also allows recovery of:
Explanation
Labor Code §1194 is explicit: notwithstanding any agreement to work for a lesser wage, an employee receiving less than the legal minimum wage or legal overtime may recover in a civil action the unpaid balance of the full amount, including interest on it, reasonable attorney's fees, and costs of suit. Each side bearing its own fees is the ordinary American rule, and §1194 is the statute that displaces it here. Treble damages are not part of §1194 at all. And a criminal fine is imposed by a court and payable to the state; it is not a remedy the underpaid employee collects.
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