From my understanding, after discussions with my current employers including 2 District Managers (CA), the Regional Human Resources Manager (California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii), and the Operations Manager in Oceanside, CA, I have been advised that I am entitled a great deal of money from my former employer in penalties from an undelivered pay check.

Here is the situation.

I was working for employer X. I decided it wasn't the job for me, and terminated my employment over the phone when the store manager called me to give me my new schedule. He asked me why I didn't want to stay, and I just said it wasn't for me and that "I won't be coming back to the store again, you'll send me the check right ?" On his end (disheartened agreable)"Ok". Then goodbyes.

From what I understand about California Labor code laws, the fact that I asked for my check to be sent/mailed entitles me to receive the check within 72 hours of self-termination. However, I am also aware that if I requested that it be sent to me then they have 72 hours to post mark the check. I am not disputing the time it would take to mail it. I know that no penalties acrue if it is mailed within the alloted time.

I unfortunately came across in my labor code research that the company needs to apparently collect a confirmed address in order to send me my check. I am not sure if this is their responsibility or my own.

I called back to the store after almost 2 weeks went by where my check had not arrived and the store put me on hold so long that I just gave up.

All of this happened back in September (9/9/2005), and I filed a claim with the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement about a month ago (1/18/2006) concerning the situation and company X finally sent a reply on their intentions to fight my claim this past friday(2/25/2006). I would see this delay as an attmept to scare me out of coming by not allowing me time to consult anyone before the meeting but maybe I am wrong.

1) Do I have any grounds for filing a claim against them for penalties for almost the last six months?

2) Is the fact that I did not confirm my address with them the killing point of any claim I might have?

3) Generally, are there any options under the law that I can pursue?

4) Is there any chance I can win a greater deal of money than just my original final check?

The waiting penalty maximum is only 30 days. That's the most you can get if the DLSE determines it is due you. You've done the proper thing at this point. Just because they are going to fight it doesn't mean they are going to win. Just bring any documentation you have that you tried to resolve this internally before you filed the claim.

There is the catch. I don't have physical documentation of anything. They have all the paper work regarding my employment. The only thing I have received is a W-2. On the thirty day thing, I read that too, but the regional HR Manager I spoke with said that they owe me more than that. However, considering that there is such a lack of physical documentation I would have to assume you are probably right.

That brings me to another question.

Is there anywhere I can look to find legal precedence for cases like thses.

Because the Regional HR person told me that the company I worked for had to pay out almost 3 months worth of pay.

An employer who willfully fails to pay any wages due a terminated employee (discharge or quit) in the prescribed time frame may be assessed a waiting time penalty. The waiting time penalty is an amount equal to the employee’s daily rate of pay for each day the wages remain unpaid, up to a maximum of thirty (30) calendar days. Mamika v. Barca (1998) 68 Cal.App4th 487 An employee will not be awarded waiting time penalties if he or she avoids or refuses to receive payment of the wages due. If a good faith dispute exists concerning the amount of the wages due, no waiting time penalties would be imposed.
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Paydays.htm

If the employer paid out more than that, it was probably because of a settlement or court order in a civil case, not a claim filed with the DLSE.