I'm writing this for my mom, who is a monolingual spanish speaker working at a cosmetic company warehouse in California.
She's recently found another job and has decided to quit her current job. She has accurued over 155 hours of PTO (worth ~$2,500), and when asked about her payout policy, she was told that her employer won't be paying her out at her hourly rate, and that payouts were only reserved for “emergencies”.
As of now, we have a paystub copy that explicitly shows the # of PTO hours she has accrued. She wants to ask for a copy of the PTO payout policy (since she has lost the original document), but she is scared that this inquiry will seem suspicious and be met with retailiation from her employer.
What are our options in this case? It is our understanding that in California, this is wage theft. Should we file a Wage Claim with the California Labor Comissioner? Should we take this to small claims court? What other supporting documentation do we need? How should we navigate the situation or communicate with the employer? We are hesitant to take this to small claims because of any legal fees eating into our lost wages, and because none of us have ever “lawyered-up” before.
Thank you so much for any advice you can provide.