Do I qualify for waiting time penalties if the final paycheck I receive is not in the full amount owed?

I quit on 12/22 and finally got my ex boss to tell me how many hours my check was cut for (since he didn't give me a pay stub with it) and it wasn't even all hours I had worked. He said he'd leave me the rest in cash at the store but he hasn't done that yet.

From what I understand, the waiting time penalties are applicable until ALL due wages are paid, and even if he shorts me 1 hour of pay - all due wages have not been paid, and I'm entitled to the penalties until he pays that final hour. Is that right? Or am I misunderstanding?

Maybe yes. Maybe no. The rules are written in such a way that CA-DLSE has discretion in this matter. All you can do is file a wage claim and see what happens.

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_WaitingTimePenalty.htm

Wait 30 days. You get 1 day's pay for each day they don't pay you, up to 30 days, so you want to wait the full 30 days to get the max. Then send them a letter, quoting the statute, mentioning that the statute provides for attorney fees. They should pay you very soon after. I've done this twice, $5,000 each time.

Wait 30 days. You get 1 day's pay for each day they don't pay you, up to 30 days, so you want to wait the full 30 days to get the max. Then send them a letter, quoting the statute, mentioning that the statute provides for attorney fees. They should pay you very soon after. I've done this twice, $5,000 each time.

You've been lucky, scamming the system or worse. The law also requires the ex-employee to attempt to mitigate the damages.

OP, I do not recommend this "waiting for 30 days" action.

I made several demands to both companies, which were ignored. I just didn't choose to explain the law that they should already know until the 30 days was up. That's not scamming the system "or worse". I'm not their lawyer. They should know better. There are penalties in the statute for a reason.

Alice, perhaps I misunderstood you. It sounded like you were saying that you didn't do anything until after 30 days, then you contacted the employer. If I misunderstood, I apologize.

No problem Patty - the OP had mentioned that the employer was aware of the shortfall, so I kinda went from there.

The first time I did this, I had lots of contact with the employer about the pay, and I didn't even know about the statute until a friend told me. The second time, the employer was doing all sorts of illegal stuff, so I asked them twice for my pay, then waited...

The key is not waiting 30 days before talking to the employer. CA-DLSE has some discretion in this matter and they expect that the employee must make a good faith effort to recovery the unpaid wages. I have been on the employer side of things where the employee had a valid wage claim against but made a point of not telling us that we owed them money until after the 30 days had gone by. We made the payment as soon as we found out it was due, but CA-DLSE denied the penalty claim because the employee could not show that they made any effort to recovery the wages prior to the 30 day window going by. CA-DLSE really wants the wages paid, and the penalty is not considered by them to be a gaming tool that the employee should use to maximum the payment. Employees really want to be able to show CA-DLSE that they (preferably) sent certified letters in a timely manner which the employer ignored. That will get the penalty. Failing to contact the employer until after the 30 day window has gone by generally does not.

Well, I've had plenty of contact with the employer. Every day to be exact. And I've shown up in person every day since the 22nd of December asking if my deduction slip is there.

I quit 12/22
Received first check written out to the wrong name on 12/24
Returned it when they dropped of the right check on 12/26 (4 days after I quit)
For three days I asked both owners how many hours they were paying me for since I had no deduction slip or wage statement. They told me it was xx hours. I told them that was incorrect, it should be xx. Immediately they admitted a mistake. Two more days later they dropped off cash for me. With each exchange I had a form written out saying what I had received, when and a witness signature.

I have asked for a deduction slip every day since 12/22 and I've been told it's "still being processed by ADP" so while I did receive xxx amount of $, I still don't know if it was correct. All I know is what they told me I was being paid for. I don't know how they figured the deductions if they couldn't even provide me with their calculations.

They still do owe me wages which they've admittedly refused to pay. So any waiting time penalties will be awarded since I have asked multiple times and been refused. I'm not worried about that.

I actually have been fair in all of this by telling them when they fired me that they would incur costly penalties because they didn't do it right - and I gave them a resignation and said if they accepted it, I couldn't be awarded any penalties. They accepted it. I've been telling them all along what needs to be done. They have no clue. So the DLSE will definitely see that I'm not trying to just get as much money out of them as possible... despite their lack of respect I've been trying to make this easy on them.

That's just not an option anymore...

You should certainly file the wage claim. Based on what you have said, it sounds like you have a really good chance of getting the penalty. Just remember that whatever you say, your former employer will probably be telling a very different story, and at the end of the day CA-DLSE has legal discretion in this matter.