As a California worker, you have certain rights as named under the Civil Rights Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, and other federal anti-discrimination laws, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. When an employer violates those rights, you may choose to file a lawsuit for damages. 

Yet if the employer's negative acts affected a group of employees, you may choose to band together to file a class-action lawsuit. 

What is an employment class action lawsuit?

Whether you experienced discrimination or your company failed to pay you overtime, you may not be the only employee who has experienced this. Rather than file a lawsuit alone, all affected employees group together and submit a legal claim. This helps to streamline the legal process, as it would be redundant to hear multiple claims against the same defendant. 

These lawsuits may include the following: 

• Discrimination against a group of people 
• Failure to pay overtime 
• Wrongful termination 
• Wage hour violations 
• Breach of Contract 

Employer negligence and poor working conditions may also constitute a lawsuit. 

What are the requirements?

The more employees you have, the better. Many employment class action claims involve hundreds of workers. However, many courts require a minimum of 40 employees. Furthermore, the claims of each employee filing in the class action lawsuit must be the same, as individual variances would make it difficult to group the claim together. 

If you feel as though your employer has violated your rights as a worker, it is critical to bring them to the attention of others. You may be able to assemble a group and form a class-action lawsuit seeking damages for everyone affected.