I have a question, my father is a manager of a park where we also live. He doesn't pay rent or utilities (as with most managers of mobile home parks), but is only paid salary of $800 a month but he works about 6-7 days a week and about 10-14 hours a day. Now, the owners of the park are attempting to charge $150 a month for utilities because some of the tenants in the park are not paying their rent/utilities. They keep threatening him with termination if he does not agree to this. Is there anything that we can do?

KRumble: My father is a manager of a park where we also live. He doesn't pay rent or utilities (as with most managers of mobile home parks), but is only paid salary of $800 a month but he works about 6-7 days a week and about 10-14 hours a day...

Based on the facts you presented, I surmise your father is not being properly paid in accordance with the law -- no overtime premiunm when he works more than 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week.

Also, while your father's employer may count up to 2/3 of the market rental value of his dwelling unit (but not more than $424 if he is the sole manager or $626 if he and your mother co-manage the property) as credit for minumum wage purposes (currently $7.50/hour), this minimum wage offset applies only if there is a "voluntary written agreement" that "explicitly references that such credits are being applied toward the minimum wage. Generally, the agreement must be (1) in writing, (2) specifically state how much money is to be credited, (3) cannot be more than $424 for a single manager or $626 for a couple, and (4) must specifically say the credit is "being applied toward minimum wage." In other words, if there is no formal, written agreement, the apartment is now truly free without any off set against wages.

I thought that you only were paid overtime if it was hourly wage, not salary. I just asked him and he said that he's been here for 10 years almost exactly and it was only a verbal agreement that the free rent, utilities, and use of the garage are a managerial perk. There was no written agreement however stating that this would go towards the minimum wage. He just talked to the owners today and agreed to resign from the job in a month because he basically told them that he's sick of that fact that in the 10 years he's been here, he's had NO vacation time or anything and many other things that are also going on (even illegal). So, my next question is, would this be something he could take to court, though he's been here for 10 years under the "verbal agreement" and hasn't addressed it yet?

Another thing, this park has a previous owner who sold to the current owners. If there was legal recourse that could be taken, would the current owners have to "pay back" for those years that the previous owner was here? Or would it only count for the time that they've owned the park? I also just read that if you are on salary and are not paid overtime that you must be paid 2 times the amount of minimum wage, do you know if this is correct for California? If so, it would appear to me that my father is owed quite a large sum of money for the past 10 years. The current owners are also having him do the job of a property manager (electricity, plumbing, repairs, etc...) without ANY licensing and have made it very clear to him that this IS his job, contrary to what he has told them.

Thank you for your help!

In general, an overtime claim can only go back 4 years. In addition, he would likely be entitled to liquidated damages (double damages) for a period of 3 years.

In terms of the sale of the business and who would be liable, that would depend on what type of business it is (corporation, partnership, sole proprietor). If it is a corporation, then the corporation is liable for the the entire 4 year period.

Regardless of whether the business is a corporation, the individual owner would be personally liable for the amount. Thus, you could sue the previous owner as well as the current owner to cover the full 4 year period.

KRumble; I thought that you only were paid overtime if it was hourly wage, not salary

This is a common misbelief! Ignoring the overtime issue, however, your father is not even being paid minimum wage. If your father only worked 40 hours per week, he would be due at least $1,300 per month ($7.50/Hr x 40 hours per week x 4.345 weeks/month).

Your father should give serious thought to filing suit against his employer. As Mike posted above, employees can go back 4 years and sue for unpaid wages, penalties, and interest. The longer your father waits to sue, the less he will be able to recover.

My mother was also hired on as the office manager to take care of the office work so that my dad could do all the maintenance as he didn't have time for both. They paid both of them collectively, $800 a month, so that's technically only $400 a month each, I suppose the owners figured that they were getting a 2-for-1 deal. So, would they both be able to file a law suit for backwages? If so, if I calculated it correctly, they are owed a total of approximately $100,000 for JUST the past 3 years. (The current owners will have been owners of this park for 3 years as of Oct 2007, so it's not been a full 3 years with them yet). Also, if they do sue, would a court be looking at paying them the past 3 years at the current minimum wage, or would they take into consideration that the minimum wage was less prior to 2007? And another thing, once sued, would the owners have a certain amount of time to pay the money back? And if they do not currently have the money, could my parents then sue for property, ie... one of their many houses or parks, or would they have to be forced to sell something in order to pay the money in a timely manner?