San Diego Law Blog

California’s wage and hour laws impose various requirements upon employers. These requirements cover various aspects of employment, such as minimum wage, overtime pay, and lunch and rest breaks. However, these wage and hour laws apply to employees – they do not apply to independent contractors.

Employers should proceed with caution, however. California imposes extremely harsh penalties for misclassifying employees as independent contractors. California law typically looks to different factors in deciding whether an individual is an independent contractor, as opposed to an employee. These factors include whether the worker is using

Many people are aware that filing bankruptcy immediately stops a wage garnishment. However, they are often surprised to learn that the filing of a bankruptcy case may allow a filing debtor to recover wages which were garnished in the 90 days prior to a bankruptcy filing.

So long as a debtor is able to properly exempt the wages which were garnished, he or she has the ability to ask the Bankruptcy Court to order that the creditor or local sheriff holding the garnished wages pay the money back to the Debtor.

Many times, individuals who file Chapter 13 bankruptcy find that they may have one or more reasons to convert their cases to Chapter 7. These reasons include a change in financial circumstances which render it impossible to keep making Chapter 13 plan payments, or no longer having a desire to keep certain property subject to liquidation in Chapter 7.

Under Section 1307(a) of the United States Bankruptcy Code, a Chapter 13 debtor can convert to a case under Chapter 7 at any time. However, a debtor may not convert if he

Although they make up only a small portion of filings, involuntary bankruptcy petitions do occur. When creditors file an involuntary proceeding against a company or individual, it can be quite daunting for the party being forced into bankruptcy. However, the company or individual can also fight back and seek to have the bankruptcy case dismissed.

An involuntary bankruptcy proceeding begins with the filing of a petition. The alleged debtor is then permitted 21 days to respond to that petition. In this responsive pleading, the alleged debtor is given an opportunity to tell the