Employment, Wage & Hour, Attorney Fees and Costs, Successful De Novo Appeal After Berman Hearing, 1, 1
Labor Code 98.2(c) authorizes an attorney fee award against a party that unsuccessfully appealed from the Labor Commissioner’s ruling in a Berman hearing on a wage claim. But that statute says nothing about attorney fee awards when the appeal is successful. Here, the employee was successful on his appeal from an adverse ruling by the Labor Commissioner. He was entitled to a fee award under the statutes that normally allow such awards to employees who prevail in wage claims against their employer.