United Employees Law Group Suspects Potential Link Between California Unemployment Rate and Class Action Lawsuits Regarding Overtime pay, Meals and Breaks

United Employee Law Group Suspects California's current Unemployment rate and the Number of California Layoffs to be related to recent California overtime class action Lawsuits.

"How are California overtime class action lawsuits regarding California overtime wages related to the California unemployment rate you may ask? The most recent report from the Employment Development Department, EDD, shows that the national unemployment average is at 6.5% while California unemployment is at 8.2%. California recorded the highest number of initial unemployment insurance claims filed this year due to mass layoff events. In October 2008 there were 51,286 California layoffs, according to The Bureau of Labor statistics. The most recent information released by The Bureau of Labor Statistics report 593,670 people receiving regular unemployment insurance benefits during November. This compares with 527,918 last month and 302,550 last year.

Again the question , "Why is the California unemployment rate so much higher than the national average?" Some suspect it is because California is home to major companies like Northrop, AT&T and Boeing; that saw numerous layoffs in recent months. Let's not forget the housing crisis that has forced countless financial institutions into mergers and acquisitions, restructuring or simply closing their doors. Sadly some companies have been known to cut corners by not paying their employees properly. United Employees Law Group at www.California-labor-laws-attorneys.com is currently involved in several California overtime class action lawsuits to reclaim unpaid California overtime wages.

Earlier this year, Northrop Grumman, in conjunction with EADS North America won the contract to build its next-generation fleet of aerial refueling tankers, spurning a bid from rival Boeing Co. Still, Northrop was forced to layoff over 140 California employees between their El Segundo and Azuza offices. California employees are noticing quite a few wage and hour discrepancies and are turning to California labor law overtime pay attorneys like United Employees Law Group.

Whether or not Boeing's loss of the government bid for the fleet of aerial refueling tankers was the deciding factor for its 677 California layoffs this year remains to be seen. Regardless, Boeing contributed to the California unemployment rate. As a result of the downsizing, Boeing's El Segundo office took the biggest hit of over 300 now unemployed Boeing workers. It's Anaheim, Huntington Beach and Long Beach offices were also greatly affected. Boeing layoffs created over 670 California unemployed in 2008.

The manufacturing industry is clearly taken a beating, but it's not alone. AT&T is the second largest phone service provider in the United States and is obviously not exempt from the turmoil being felt across the nation. AT&T's California layoffs are widespread; Sacramento lost 188 jobs while San Diego lost over 260 employees, jobs loss ranging in divisions like global network, consumer information technology, IT, information operations and messaging.

With so many companies trying to cut costs the number of California labor laws class action lawsuits appears to be on the rise. Often times, Employers will misclassify their employees to get out of having to pay for meals and breaks, California overtime pay or reimbursable expenses. If you are concerned that this may have happened to you please contact United Employees Law Group at www.california-labor-laws-attorneys.com or www.california-labor-law-attorney.com. The fortunate thing is that if you are entitled to California overtime pay, these California overtime class action attorneys can help you go back and collect overtime pay for up to 4 years, even if you have no record of the hours you worked.