My boss (the owner) hired his son and his sons girlfriend at the company i work for a few months back. The timing could not have been worse as this time of the year we aren't bringing in a ton of money – he even cancelled our bonuses for a month to catch up on expenses. My issue is that I make a measly $19 an hour while his son and his girlfriend are both on salary – each receive $5,000 a month regardless of the amount of time they work. For instance – I'm here full time 40 hours a week. Son and girlfriend are each hitting maybe 10 hours a week on the clock. I previously was working the position of the girlfriend and was never offered a $5000 monthly salary. Currently I am supervisor to the son – he is holding the most entry level position in company and makes much, much more than i do while working a lot less hours and has zero experience in this field. its demeaning.
I'm in California and i have access to the payroll information because my boss (the owner) has me handle his emails because he is almost never in the office himself. My boss has a history of mistreating employees very badly and getting away with it. He has been part of two lawsuits with old employees since i started working here almost 5 years ago so i am a bit intimidated. I wondering if i have any rights or grounds to file a suit. Im pretty sure i would lose my job moving forward with a suit but i feel myself, and all the other employees are being discriminated against.