California leads the nation in the call for higher minimum wages, emanating from the agricultural fields and reaching nearly every industry. Raising wages has been a major focus in the California Legislature – as well as in...more
In California, wage and hour claims are more common than claims of wrongful termination and harassment. Fortunately, employers have had a variety of forums in which to resolve wage and hour claims. Because litigation can be...more
Although California businesses may be preoccupied dealing with attorneys invoking the Private Attorneys General Act, a federal government investigator may come knocking at your door when you least expect it asking to conduct...more
While most California employers are familiar with the “regular rate” from calculating non-exempt employees’ overtime payments, changes in the law make clear that employers will now need to perform the same regular rate...more
10/5/2021
/ Bonuses ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Employee Commissions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exclusions ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Over-Time ,
Piece-Rate Pay ,
Rate of Pay ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Salaried Employees ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
The hyper-technical nature of California’s wage statement laws, embodied in Labor Code section 226, have made violations of this law a favorite of the plaintiffs’ bar for class and representative actions under the Private...more
The California Supreme Court recently ruled that acknowledgments may be evidence used by employers to refute meal period claims, but employers cannot obtain acknowledgments using “rounded” time punches when confronting...more
California law does not require employers to provide their employees with paid vacation. However, if an employer has a policy providing its employees with paid vacation, the administration of the benefits is strictly...more
10/5/2020
/ Appeals ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Code ,
Non-Residents ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Severance Agreements ,
Vacation Leave ,
Vacation Pay ,
Wage and Hour
The long-fought bag-check battle against Apple is coming to an end, and the employee class just won a major victory in California when a federal court of appeals ruled that the company must pay its workers for the time spent...more
The California appellate courts, and the California Supreme Court, continue to weigh in on significant and compelling wage and hour issues that affect employers each day.
“Hours Worked” Under The Control Test – Going Back...more
In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court just held that the time spent by employees waiting for and undergoing security checks of bags and other personal items is compensable time under California law, even when...more
2/15/2020
/ Apple ,
Bright-Line Rule ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Litigation ,
Integrity Staffing v Busk ,
Security Checks ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Orders
Tastes may differ, but there can be no dispute that the music video for “November Rain,” the ultimate power ballad by the ultimate Hair Nation band of the 1980s, Guns N’ Roses, is the best video ever created. It’s like a...more
11/4/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Severe Weather ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vacation Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Weather Policy
Over a decade has passed since an appellate court in California ruled that employers could not average pay for productive activity to include unpaid non-productive activity in meeting their minimum wage obligations. That...more
10/8/2019
/ CA Supreme Court ,
Compensation ,
DLSE ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Code ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Pending Litigation ,
Piece-Rate Pay ,
Rate of Pay ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Wage and Hour
Following a line of recent federal and state court cases, California employers are required to compensate employees receiving commissions and piece rates separately for non-productive time and rest periods. In a recent...more
1/4/2019
/ Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Compensation ,
Employee Commissions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Code ,
Minimum Wage ,
Payroll Records ,
Petition for Review ,
Piece-Rate Pay ,
Rate of Pay ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Orders
Many California employers are familiar with the three-headed monster of medical leave questions: family medical leave (state and federal), disability leave and accommodation, and workers’ compensation leave. The wage and hour...more
10/4/2018
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Commissions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Incentive Awards ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Piece-Rate Pay ,
Public Policy ,
Rate of Pay ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Sales Commissions ,
State Labor Laws ,
Timekeeping ,
Wage and Hour
The “ABC test” recently adopted by the California Supreme Court in the Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court case is now touted as the best way to make the distinction between an “exploited employee” and an...more
7/6/2018
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Code ,
Misclassification ,
Retroactive Application ,
Right to Control ,
State Labor Laws ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Orders
Many employers fail to fully appreciate the existence of a variety of exemptions from, or waivers of, some of California’s strict wage and hour regulations. A quick survey of common issues includes the following escape...more
7/12/2017
/ Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Exemptions ,
Fluctuating Workweek ,
Minimum Wage ,
On-Duty Meal Period Waivers ,
Over-Time ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Waivers ,
Work Schedules
There are a variety of situations that may require your employees to handle on-call shifts after finishing their regular shift, most commonly if you need to provide certain services at irregular frequencies and intervals....more
7/8/2017
/ CA Supreme Court ,
Control Test ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
On-Call Employees ,
On-Duty Meal Period Waivers ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
In an unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court held today that California’s law requiring one day of rest in seven looks only at the employer’s defined workweek when determining the applicable period of time to be...more
The past several years have been a difficult time for many California employers when it comes to wage and hour compliance. But if enterprising plaintiffs’ attorneys have their way, times will get even worse in the coming...more
Although meal periods have occupied central stage in class action litigation over the past decade in California, rest-period litigation will soon join the “break wars.” A new law that just took effect on January 1, 2016...more
As class actions continue to plague employers in California, one area that is often overlooked is expense reimbursement. The California Labor Code makes clear that employers must indemnify employees for all necessary...more
As the new year begins, California employers, already weary from added wage and hour laws and regulations enacted over the past several years, have yet more to comply with. Here are the highlights....more