Do I bother taking legal action?
employment attorney California Jul 22, 2026
Location: California I lwas just recently laid off from my job and I'm considering taking legal action against my previous employer, but I'm not sure it would be worth the trouble. Last September they cut my salary in half from $80k annually to $40k annually. I pointed out to them that this was below the legal salary in California, but they said that I would no longer be classified as exempt which allows them to pay under the minimum exempt salary. They never notified me of this salary/status change in writing and they back dated the change to start a few days before they verbally notified me. They also never paid me overtime even when I worked it and requested to be paid the overtime in writing. They didn't provide me with separation documents and did not pay me my final check until three days after they laid me off. They also switched from accrued PTO to unlimited PTO last summer and never paid out the 100 hours of PTO I had already accrued at that point. The list goes on and on. My concern with taking legal action is that they are on the verge of bankruptcy. I'm not sure I would ever even see a payout. Right now I at least have good references from them. If I take legal action, that goes away and there is no guarantee of a pay out. What would you do if you were me?
