California wants to capture the employers and contractors that violate the labor rules. Any worker, a current employee or a former employee, has a right to file a claim against their employer with the Bureau of Field Enforcement. It is sent in on the Initial Report or Complaint form.

A BOFE investigator will show up at the business worksite and ask the employer questions and hear the worker's complaint to find out if there is a violation.

Problems will be resolved by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and possibly, criminal or civil sanctions imposed, when the investigator finds a violation of an oral or written agreement or a violation for the labor laws, regulations, or Industrial Welfare Commission Orders.

Eight Kinds of Violations

1. Failure to always follow the Industrial Welfare Commission Orders. Employers can not get away with breaking the basic rules for treating their workers right. They have to pay their workers their minimum wage and overtime pay. And, pay them back for the money they spent on mandatory uniforms. Payroll records have to be kept .

Meal and rest breaks are a must.

Running short on cash is not an ordinary mistake an employer can take lightly. The commission frowns upon employers that spend more than they take in when workers have to get paid. .

2. Giving workers their pay without an itemized wage statement. Wage statements are made mandatory by the labor code. They must describe work hours, rates and wages and the work done and show up in workers' hands on time on payday.

3. Taking any license in treating Californians under 18 that are working on their education responsibility like a minor. Young Californians need work permits and have to stay in school. They get paid minimum wages and they work their own hours that leave time for school attendance and study. High school graduates get paid adult minimum wages.

4. Not paying workers injured at work their days of income. All California employers must carry workers' compensation insurance to guarantee their workers do not lose all their income when they lose any ability to work.

5. Doing any garment manufacturing business behind the labor commissioner's back. All employers in the business must register with the labor commissioner. And stay clean. No past due penalties or back wages.

6. Taking on farm labor contract work without a state license. Bringing farm workers on board at a California farm and hauling workers to work in a motor vehicle both are licensed work. These contractors have to take on contracts by the book.

7. Using any opportunity to hire a worker for work that requires a license. Contractors without a license for the work they hire workers to do violates the labor code. Licensed contractors that hire other contractors without the right license or hire other Californians that are not independent contractors the state has approved for the work also violate the code.

8. Giving a worker too little break time or no place to take a break at work. A 15 minute break for 5 hours work is not a perk. It is a guaranteed employment period that completes the day. No employer can avoid giving one.

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California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, How to file a Claim with the Bureau of Field Enforcement (BOFE), on web site www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToFileBOFEClaim.htm (July 2, 2011).

California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, DLSE Form 1: Initial Report or Complaint (Revised December 2010).