# Independent Contractors | Sue For Overtime | Sue For Wages > Misclassified as an independent contractor in Los Angeles? Our lawyers explain how the law decides and how to recover unpaid overtime. Get answers today. Source: https://employeelawca.com/los-angeles-independent-contractor/ Firm: Employment Lawyers Group — employee-side employment lawyers since 1993. Serving Los Angeles County, California. Phone: (323) 525-1600 (calling is the fastest way to reach the legal team) Office: 13418 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 Contact form: https://employeelawca.com/contact/ Consultations are free and confidential; cases are taken on contingency. --- Many employees, including sales people, are [misclassified as independent contractors](https://employeelawca.com/los-angeles-independent-contractor-og/) or exempt employees. Exempt employees are not entitled to meal or rest breaks. Independent contractors do not enjoy most of the protections under the California Labor Code. Exempt employees are exempt from overtime, meal, and rest break laws because a legal determination has been made they are not the type of employee who receives those protections. Over the years our firm has seen many abusive situations in which employers create all sorts of alleged explanations why a worker is an independent contractor, but they are not. We have seen sales people whose hours are set by the employer classified as independent contracts. Workers whose hours are set by the employer, and work on the employers' premises are employees and not independent contractors. The ability to discipline for failing to follow employers' orders, rules, and work priorities are also signs an employee and not an independent contractor. The existence of a contract, or the words in the contract, are not dispositive of whether a worker is an employee versus independent contractor. ## In order to assess whether you are an independent contractor, consider whether: 1. **You work on the employer's premises** 2. **You use the employer's equipment to do your work** 3. **The employer sets your schedule (start and stop times and number of hours per day)** 4. **You are disciplined if you decline to work as requested by the employer** 5. **You do the normal business of the employer is engaged in. For example, you are not coming in to repair a piece of equipment that rarely breaks, or providing IT assistance when needed but are delivering newspapers for a newspaper company** ### Improper treatment of an employee as an independent contractor leads to several remedies for the employee. These remedies include: 1. **A monetary fine to the employer for improperly classifying an employee as anindependent contractor** 2. **Back pay at minimum wage for ever hour worked for each pay period the employee's commissions paid to them did not equal minimum wage for that pay period** 3. **Potential overtime and double time pay** 4. **Fines to the employer for not properly giving employees written sales commission contracts** 5. **Penalties payable to the employee for the employer not properly itemizing why the employee was paid what they were paid on their paycheck** ## Employees Get Minimum Wage Disreputable employers play the misclassification game in order to avoid the payment of minimum wage and overtime. The misclassification of a worker as an independent contract avoids the requirement employers must pay overtime, minimum wage, reimburse expenses, or regularly pay the employee. Nor do real independent contractors enjoy the benefits of the workers compensation system. Contact our experienced labor attorneys at (323) 525-1600 if you believe you were misclassified in order to avoid paying you wages. ### Do Sales People Earn Overtime? Outside sales people may not be entitled to overtime, or minimum wage. Only a qualified labor lawyer can answer questions about whether an outside sales person may truly be an outside sales person under California labor law. Some of the factors to look at concern whether the employee predominately works in the field selling, and whether those duties are selling opposed to customer service. Predominately clearly means 51% or more, but does it mean 50.000001%? How does an employer measure these percents, and what is the significance of an employer's expectations the employee primarily work in the field selling opposed to an employee actually doing so? Employees cannot refuse to carry out the employer's directive and work in the field selling 51% of the time, and then claim overtime. For example, if an employer hires a salesman to sell in the field and gives the salesman a desk in a retail bank the salesman decides to sit at all day and never go into the field the salesman who is fired for refusing to go into the field at least 51% of the time cannot legitimately claim minimum wage or overtime violations. Most legal determinations whether an employee is an outside sales person are factually based. This means the employee's job duties, where the job takes place, and the employer's expectations must be considered. A detailed discussion with an experienced California wage and hour lawyer will help ferret out whether the employer's classification is correct. Our experienced labor lawyers can be reached at **(323) 525-1600** if you have any questions about being improperly paid, or being misclassification as an independent contractor. ## Our Firm: No Upfront Fees or Costs ### Contingency Fee Representation All employment cases for employees are taken on a **contingency basis**. We are only paid a fee **when and if we win** your case, and we **advance all litigation costs**. Our goal is to make expert legal representation accessible to every hardworking employee. ### Serving Los Angeles County We have proudly served all of Los Angeles County since 1993. Ready to discuss your case? (323) 525-1600 Submit A Contact Form The Employment Lawyers Group has successfully handled 2,000+ Separate California Employment Cases ## Media Engagements ## Sample Case Results breach of commission contract $1,150,000 Unpaid commissions of two plaintiffs unpaid wages $875,000 For 4 oil field service industry workers whose times worked were not recorded on timesheets and were on-call forced to work without pay standby pay case $800,000 Controlled stand by class action settlement Disclaimer: These results are based on the facts of these specific cases and do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case. ## Practice Areas [Discrimination Age, Disability, FMLA/CFRA, Gender, National Origin, Pregnancy, Race, and Sexual Orientation discrimination claims.](https://employeelawca.com/discrimination-lawyer-in-los-angeles/) [Unpaid Wages & Overtime Recovering earnings for overtime, bonuses, commissions, meal & rest break violations, and prevailing wage claims.](https://employeelawca.com/unpaid-wages/) [Sexual Harassment Compassionate and effective representation for sexual harassment and hostile work environment claims.](https://employeelawca.com/sexual-harassment/) [Wrongful Termination Representing employees terminated in violation of public policy, contracts, or California and federal law.](https://employeelawca.com/wrongful-termination/) [Leaves & Retaliation Protecting employees who face adverse actions after reporting illegal activity or taking protected medical leave.](https://employeelawca.com/absences/) [Whistleblowers Advocating for employees who report fraud, waste, or abuse under California and federal whistleblower protection laws.](https://employeelawca.com/los-angeles-financial-whistleblower/) ## Our California Locations ### Bakersfield [BakersfieldLaborAttorney.com](https://bakersfieldlaborattorney.com) 5401 Business Park S, #214, Bakersfield CA 93309 [(661) 412-9600](tel:6614129600) ### Los Angeles [EmployeeLawCA.com](https://employeelawca.com/) 611 Wilshire Blvd, #1023, Los Angeles CA 90017 [(323) 525-1600](tel:3235251600) ### Orange County [WorkLawyerOC.com](https://worklawyeroc.com) 2522 Chambers Rd, #100, Tustin CA 92780 [(714) 210-8000](tel:7142108000) ### Riverside [RiversideEmploymentLawyer.com](https://riversideemploymentlawyer.com) 9496 Magnolia Ave, #208, Riverside CA 92503 [(951) 367-1000](tel:9513671000) ### Sacramento [SacramentoLaborAttorney.com](https://sacramentolaborattorney.com) 777 Campus Commons Rd, #200, Sacramento CA 95825 [(916) 340-0000](tel:9163400000) ### San Bernardino [EmploymentAttorneySanBernardino.com](https://employmentattorneysanbernardino.com) 337 N. Vineyard Ave, #400, Ontario CA 91764 [(909) 663-2100](tel:9096632100) ### San Diego [SanDiegoEmployeeLawyer.com](https://sandiegoemployeelawyer.com) 330 "A" St, #60, San Diego CA 92101 [(619) 320-3000](tel:6193203000) ### San Francisco / Bay Area [BayAreaEmploymentAttorney.net](https://bayareaemploymentattorney.net) 524 Union St, #400, San Francisco CA 94133 [(877) 525-0700](tel:8775250700) ### San Jose / Silicon Valley [SiValleyLaborLawyer.com](https://sivalleylaborlawyer.com) 111 N. Market St, #300, San Jose CA 95113 [(877) 525-0700](tel:8775250700) ### Sherman Oaks [WorkLawyerCA.com](https://worklawyerca.com) 13418 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks CA 91423 [(818) 783-7300](tel:8187837300) ### Torrance / South Bay [JobTerminationLaw.com](https://jobterminationlaw.com/) 3655 Torrance Blvd, 3rd Floor, Torrance CA 90503 [(310) 842-8600](tel:3108428600) ### Ventura / Oxnard [VenturaEmploymentLawyer.com](https://venturaemploymentlawyer.com) 4030 West Hemlock St, Oxnard CA 93035 [(805) 200-0100](tel:8052000100) ### Additional Sites [BostonLaborLaw.com](https://bostonlaborlaw.com) [DcLaborAttorney.com](https://dclaborattorney.com) [FresnoEmployeeLawyer.com](https://fresnoemployeelawyer.com) [JobLawyer.net](https://joblawyer.net) [MarylandLaborAttorney.com](https://marylandlaborattorney.com/) [ModemStud.com](https://modemstud.com) [VintageLosAngeles.org](https://vintagelosangeles.org) [WorkplaceLawyer.org](https://workplacelawyer.org) ## About Firm Founder, Karl Gerber Firm Founder, **Karl Gerber**, has been an employment and wrongful termination attorney since **1993**. He has represented a wide range of employees throughout California. Mr. Gerber has won **51 of the binding arbitrations and jury trials** he first chaired, and a number of his appeals are published. This deep trial experience is the foundation of the firm's strategic approach to litigation. The employment attorneys employed by the Employment Lawyers Group have worked at the firm well in excess of five years, have also tried many different labor cases, and have all been **extensively trained on employment and wrongful termination law by Karl Gerber**. [Meet Karl Gerber](https://employeelawca.com/karl-gerber/) ## Ready to Discuss Your Case? Your rights as an employee matter. Submit a contact form and we'll get back to you. Submit A Contact Form [Call (323) 525-1600 Now](tel:3235251600)