California has always been a trailblazer. 
The latest new territory involves being the first state to raise hourly minimum wage rates to double digits – $10-an-hour by 2016, per a bill that recently received Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature. In the interim, the rate will graduate to $9 hourly by next summer.
While this is good news, we fully anticipate this change will coincide with a rise in California wage and hour lawsuits.
Historically, large restaurant chains have been one of the top violators of federal and state wage and hour laws in the U.S. 
This may have to do with the fact that the restaurant industry is unique in the way it is permitted to structure its pay (on the basis of tips). The hours are usually not the typical 9-to-5, and it is typically lower-level staff (servers, bussers, line-cooks and hosts) who are exploited.
Outback Steakhouse is no exception. Our Costa Mesa wage and hour lawyers have learned the latest claim against the chain is a class action that stems from a group of Nevada employees. They allege the company failed to provide them with breaks to which they were legally entitled, mandated they begin working prior to the start of their shifts and discriminated against nursing mothers by not providing enough break time or private settings for them to pump milk.
It is one of the largest providers of elder care in the country.
Emeritus Senior Living facilities boast hundreds of locations across the country, thousands of workers and rake in millions in profits. 
And yet, as our Costa Mesa wage and hour dispute attorneys understand, when it came time to providing adequate compensation to those trusted to care for our most vulnerable citizens, the for-profit health care provider did everything it could to skirt employment laws and boost its bottom line.
A new survey released recently by Inc.com indicates that roughly 20 percent of small business owners are voicing preference for independent contractors over full-time employees. 
Part of the reason reportedly has to do with employer requirements under the soon-to-be-enforced Affordable Healthcare Act, but our Costa Mesa wage and hour lawyers recognize that employers likely see other benefits too.
Among the pluses noted by employers:
A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of California workers employed at a popular, nationwide burger chain, accused of break and overtime violations.
This suit joins previous litigation filed on behalf of current and former employees of a Mexican fast food chain.
Our Costa Mesa overtime attorneys know that chain operations, particularly those that employ low-wage, low-skill workers, tend to be prone to this type of violation because they believe they can get away with it.
A class action overtime lawsuit involving Los Angeles mechanics who alleged they were unfairly denied overtime pay by their employer has been settled for $3.5 million, meaning each claimant can expect to receive between $9,000 and $10,000. 
Our Costa Mesa wage and hour attorneys know that cases like this are becoming more common, as workers become more and more educated about their rights.
It helps that there are a number of recent cases in which workers have won big in these cases. That’s encouraging, but it’s also natural that workers want to fight for themselves and fair wages.
In this second entry of our two-part series on the rapid proliferation of temporary workers in California, our Costa Mesa employment lawyers continue to explore some of the vulnerabilities of these employees and the extent of the power they do hold. 
We’ve been closely following the ProPublica/TIME Magazine series on temporary workers.
While the number of temporary workers throughout the country continues to grow, the number of individuals who will secure full-time employment as a result of these positions is low – about 30 percent. In the meantime, most will earn less than $25,000, some taking in less than half of minimum wage once various fees are factored.
Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog