How to Prove Overtime Violations When Records Are Incomplete

Many wage theft cases involve incomplete or missing time records — either because the employer never kept them, destroyed them, or the worker kept their own but the employer disputes them. California law helps workers in exactly this situation.

The Burden-Shifting Rule

The California Supreme Court’s decision in Donohue v. AMN Services established that when an employer’s records are incomplete or inaccurate, the burden shifts to the employer to prove how many hours were actually worked. Workers who can establish a reasonable estimate of their hours — through testimony, circumstantial evidence, or other records — can carry their burden even without complete time records.

Your phone can be your time record. Call logs, email timestamps, app usage data, GPS records, and text messages all establish when you were working. A worker who can show a pattern of emails sent at 7am and 9pm on days when they were supposedly only working 8 hours has created evidence of overtime that is very hard for the employer to rebut.

The California Wage Theft Recovery System gives workers the exact tools and templates to document violations, calculate what they’re owed, and file the right claims — without paying an attorney to get started. Request your free evaluation here.