Summer Wage Claim Award
Legal Aid of Marin Team Guides Client to nearly $40,000 wage claim award
A team of two first-year law school student interns and a supervising legal assistant worked together to build one of Legal Aid of Marin's largest wage claim judgments of the year. The office of the Labor Commissioner awarded a Legal Aid of Marin client $39,939.51 against his former employer, IBS Building Maintenance Company, for unpaid wages.
The client, a San Rafael resident, came to Legal Aid of Marin's offices in December seeking advice on how to collect a $662 bounced paycheck from the IBS Building Maintenance Company, where he had worked as a janitor for seven years. In reviewing his case, Supervising Legal Assistant Sandra Esquivias informed the client that he was entitled to much more.
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| Youchen Wang
University of Michigan '12
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Alex Bonilla
UC Berkeley Law '12
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During his seven years as a janitor for IBS, the client worked an average of 54 hours a week at a rate of $8 an hour. Although legally required, the client's employer did not pay him any overtime and never gave him a single meal or rest period during his 610 days on the job. The client continued his janitorial duties, which included IBS contract work with the Tiburon Library and the Tiburon Post Office, unaware that his working conditions were illegal. The client quit after his last IBS paycheck bounced.
"It was a great experience defending the rights of employees, especially in this economy where the balance of power often shifts to the employer," said Youchen Wang, who along with fellow Legal Aid of Marin intern, Alex Bonilla, represented the client at the Labor Commissioner's hearing. Wang, a University of Michigan law student, and Bonilla, a UC Berkeley law student, had less than 24 hours to prepare what would be their first argument outside of a classroom environment. Senior Staff Attorney Karen Carrera, well experienced in labor law, prepared the interns the night before the hearing and provided essential support, feedback and advice throughout the process.
"It was a bit intimidating," admitted Bonilla, whose previous experience involved volunteering at workers' rights clinics where he helped draft demand letters for last pay checks. "Those were for amounts of about one or two thousand dollars. Obviously, there was a lot more at stake here."
The Legal Aid of Marin team of interns calculated that the client was owed $30,238 in overtime wages; $5,951 in regular wages; $5,267 in meal period wages; and $5,267 in rest period wages. At the hearing, the IBS representative offered to settle for about $5,000.
The client declined.
Wang and Bonilla, still weary-eyed from the previous night's preparation and jittery with intern nerves, proceeded to plead the client's case at the administrative hearing. Justice was ultimately served when the Labor Commissioner awarded a judgment that the client be paid $39,939.51.
"Alex and Youchen were in the right place at the right time," said Paul Cohen, Executive Director of Legal Aid of Marin. "Our client needed them and they stepped up and did a great job in securing this fantastic result. I will not hesitate to send law students to administrative hearings in the future."
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