California roofing crews say their boss stopped paying them. Here is how unpaid workers can collect

In a post on Reddit's r/Roofing, she wrote that the contractor has threatened workers who press for their money. Her account has not been tested, and the company is not named here. The steps below come from California's Labor Commissioner, the Contractors State License Board and the Labor Code.

The Labor Commissioner takes wage claims online, by email, by mail or in person, and says state labor law covers workers regardless of immigration status. Deadlines are three years for unpaid minimum wage, overtime and illegal deductions, four for claims under a written contract and two for an oral promise of more than minimum wage. A claim usually goes to a settlement conference, then to a hearing if it does not settle. Crews paid as independent contractors can still file, and the office can decide whether they were misclassified.

Timing of the last check matters. A fired worker must be paid in full on the spot; one who quits without notice, within 72 hours. When an employer willfully misses that deadline, it owes a waiting-time penalty of a day's pay for each day late, up to 30 days, and the Labor Commissioner says being short of money is no defense.

Two more tools reach past the employer. Laborers can record a mechanics lien on the property they worked on without serving the 20-day preliminary notice subcontractors need, according to the CSLB and the law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore; the CSLB says the lien must be recorded within 90 days of completion and enforced by a lawsuit within 90 days after that. And on private jobs where the roofer was a subcontractor, Labor Code sections 218.7 through 218.9 make the direct contractor liable for unpaid wages, with suits due within a year of completion under the current section 218.8.