The Individual Wage & Hour Client Matters; the Four Year Statute of Limitations Matters

Gary Goyette recently obtained another successful recovery of overtime pay in one of his wage & hour cases, and while only a small victory, it was important for two specific reasons: 1) the victory was for an individual client; and 2) the victory was possible solely due to the four year statute of limitations available for private sector overtime pay claims in California.  Despite routinely litigating aggressively for large groups of employees in wage & hour class actions, Goyette & Associates also ‘fights the fight’ for individual employees, whose overtime claims are just as important to keep employers accountable.  The recent recovery was for such an individual.  Further, this individual had been told prior to approaching Goyette & Associates that the claim was ‘too old’ since it was outside the traditional three year statute of limitations based on the specific statute for California overtime pay (Labor Code section 510).  Instead of telling the individual to give up, Gary Goyette asserted the four year statute of limitations under California Business & Professions Code sections 17200 et. seq. for this individual against the prior employer.  The legal authority stood up, and roughly eight months of overtime pay based on hours worked over three years prior was recovered.  If there is a legal basis, Goyette & Associates can recover the overtime pay owed – – no matter how small or how old the claim.