Program Details

• Location & Session Dates

  2025 Session Dates: February 18, 25, March 4, 11, 18, 25

  Session Time: 6:00-8:00 pm Pacific

• Course Format

  All sessions will be held live online via Zoom.

• Course Sessions

  Session 1:  Overview 

  • What are Wage and Hour (W&H) laws?  
  • The history of these laws
  • The four categories comprising California’s W&H laws
  • The many sources of W&H laws – Federal law (FLSA) and the Department of Labor opinions; California Wage Orders and the Labor Code; and interpretations of these laws by the enforcing agency 

  Session 2:  Why are these W&H cases settling for so many millions of dollars? 

  • The most frequent W&H claims
  • Can an employee sue in court for violations of any W&H law?
  • Looking at one of the most recent and significant W&H cases, Naranjo v Spectrum Security Services, Inc. 
  • The accretive effect of California’s “Pay Stub Law” and “Waiting Time Law”

  Session 3:  The FLSA: Federal W&H laws

  • How and why are these federal laws applicable to California employees?
  • What are the key areas they cover?
  • What happens if there is a conflict between federal and California law? Isn’t federal law supposed to be “supreme”?

  Session 4:  Wage Orders – the birth of California’s comprehensive W&H legal system

  • The 17 Wage Orders and what they pertain to
  • How can employers figure out which Wage Order applies to their enterprise?
  • How can employees figure out what Wage Order applies to their jobs?  
  • Taking a closer look at a few Wage Orders and their key provisions

  Session 5:  Exempt vs. non-exempt employees

  • Significance of distinction
  • The primary exempt categories
  • Determining whether a certain position is exempt or non-exempt

  Session 6: Minimum Wage

  • Who decides the minimum wage an employee earns per hour? The feds, the state, the city?
  • Thou shall not fool around with calculating minimum wage – so says the California Supreme Court in Peabody vs. Time Warner Cable
  • Can an employee agree to work for less than the minimum wage?
  • What happens if an employer pays less than the applicable minimum wage? 
  • Example of complexity of seemingly simple W&H laws:  Tipping and the minimum wage
• Course Instructor

  

  Beth Berke, J.D., M.A.
  Lecturer in Law
  Founder and CEO at Beth Berke Consulting

   

  As CEO of Beth Berke Consulting, an Independent Management Consulting Firm, and in her role as an adjunct professor, Beth Berke brings extensive expertise, experience, and knowledge across multiple platforms. 

  Beth has been a vital resource in guiding leadership teams from a variety of industry sectors, ranging from global media corporations to private, professional firms. Learn more about her experience here.

• Certificates and MCLE

  Certificate of Completion

  Participants who complete all required course elements will receive a certificate of completion from UCLA Law Executive Education.

  MCLE

  UCLA School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider. This session has requested MCLE credit for 12 hours and is currently pending approval.

• Tuition & Discounts

  General Tuition: $995

  Government or Non-Profit Employee: $895* (save 10%)

  UCLA Law Alumni and Previous Paid Executive Education Participant: $895* (save 10%)

  Partner Organization Members: $895* (save 10%)

  Non-Lawyers: $895* (save 10%)

  ^{*For all discount rates, please email execed@law.ucla.edu for the relevant instructions to access your tuition category.}