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, all employees are presumed to be entitled to overtime, meal periods, and other wage-and-hour regulations unless an employer can prove that its employees “plainly and unmistakably” fall within the terms of an...more
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
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
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While it always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, the last few months have seen an unprecedented number of changes. May 2017 was no different, with...more
6/5/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Health Care Act (AHCA) ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Day of Rest Laws ,
E-Verify ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Workweek ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Contractors ,
Food Service Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Immigration Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
On-Call Employees ,
OSHA ,
Paid Leave ,
Parental Leave ,
Popular ,
Portable Benefits ,
Repeal ,
Retail Workers ,
Sick Leave ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
Work Schedules
The minimum wage is here to stay, but it has become more complicated to apply to some classes of employees. Until this century, the issue of whether employees are adequately paid at the applicable minimum wage in California...more
A California appellate court ruled yesterday that workers paid on a commission basis must be separately compensated for legally required rest periods (Vaquero v. Stoneledge Furniture LLC). When combined with a state Supreme...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
Today California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a sweeping plan that will eventually increase the statewide minimum wage from $10.00 to $15.00 per hour. While the state of New York announced a deal last week that will...more
On Monday, March 28, 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown, flanked by union and state government officials, announced an agreement with state legislators to increase the statewide minimum wage from $10.00 to $15.00 per hour....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 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