The resident manager is also entitled to recover attorney’s fees for having to pursue improperly withheld wages . . . even if their attorney was working on a contingency basis!
In addition, Labor Code §1194(a) permits that any employee who is paid less than the legal minimum wage (or legal overtime compensation) applicable to that employee, is also entitled to recover interest on the amount owed, as well as the attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing the action.
The Law Offices of Kenneth F. Moss handles this type of action on a “contingency fee” basis. That means that the Law Office takes a percentage of the recovery at the end of the action, so that the resident apartment manager who was not properly paid minimum wage does not have to pay an hourly attorney’s fee to pursue those wages.
We also negotiate, in any settlement, for the attorney’s fees to be added on to the wages and liquidated damages recovered so that the burden of paying the attorney’s fees is borne by the owner or property management company, rather than the resident apartment manager, as the law requires.