C.A. 1st;
A147540

The First Appellate District reversed a judgment and remanded. The court held that a foreign worker was neither a “trainee” nor an “exempt” administrative employee so as to render California wage and overtime laws inapplicable.

Taiwanese national Ming-Hsiang Kao was living overseas when the owners of Joy Holiday invited him to come to California and work for their travel agency. They promised Kao a salary of $2,500 per month and agreed to apply for a work permit on his behalf. Kai accepted the offer and traveled to California on a tourist visa. For the next 11 months, Joy's owners paid him $2,500 per month, less an $800 monthly rent deduction for housing they provided. They applied for Kao's work permit only after he had already worked for them for seven months, and he received the permit after 11 months. At that time, they executed a written work agreement that provided that Kao was to be paid $2,500 per month for a 20-hour work week. Any hours worked beyond those 20 hours would be Kao's “person choice,” for which he would not be compensated. Kao's duties as office manager nonetheless required him to work some 50 hours per work. A year and a half later, Kao was terminated. He sued for violation of California minimum wage and overtime laws, failure to provide adequate wage and hour statements, and failure to timely pay him upon termination.