"California’s strong labor laws aren’t enough to protect workers, report says," 15 May 2024

Although California has some of the toughest labor laws in the country, a new study has found workers routinely suffer violations while on the job.

A team of researchers... surveyed 980 California workers at dozens of the state’s largest retail, food and other service sector companies. The workers reported frequent abuses over pay, work schedules and other issues.

The study found, for example, that 41% of the workers surveyed had experienced at least one serious labor violation in the last year, such as being required to work off the clock, not being paid overtime, or being paid less than minimum wage...

Violations around paid sick leave and meal breaks were also common... More than half of workers, 58%, were not given proper rest breaks.

All told, 91% of the workers surveyed experienced at least one violation in the last year...

The survey of workers... showed it was common for workers not to report problems.

...the study found that workers who came forward to report problems to someone inside their company were often met with retaliation or other negative consequences, and that workers are unlikely to seek help from regulatory bodies such as the state labor commissioner.

Another study... found that minimum wage violations have more than doubled in some major metro areas in California since 2014.