Interested in learning which claims a large employment law firm says it defends against most often? Since you’re used to a short newsletter (and for the suspense), I’m breaking this list into two parts. Numbers 10 through 6 are listed below and the top 5 will be in next week’s post.
10. Overtime – You aren’t paying overtime per CA’s standards. We have both a daily overtime calculation and a weekly calculation so it’s easy to get confused.
9. Paid Sick Leave – You have not implemented paid sick leave in accordance with CA’s legal requirement by July 1st. Don’t think your company is exempt from this… it is required for ALL companies and for ALL employees.
8. Regular Rate – You think this means their normal hourly rate. An employee’s regular rate, when used legally in calculations, equals all earnings (including bonus, cash value of gifts/rewards, etc.) divided by all hours worked. The only things exempt from counting as earnings are monies paid to an employee that was not for actual time worked, such as paid leaves, reporting time pay, penalty pay, split-shift pay, and call back pay.
7. Timekeeping – You don’t track (and pay for) all hours the employee is under your “control.” This word is very broad in the legal sense. You are controlling the employee (and must pay for their time) when, for example, they are traveling to a job site that’s further than their normal commute to the office, flying after hours, or sleeping while on a long flight, etc.
6. Meal and Rest Breaks – You think the Brinker decision freed you up from requiring your employees to take meal and rest breaks. Not true! You just don’t have to police it quite so much but they still need to clock out for meal breaks in accordance with CA rules regarding timing.
Watch for next week’s top 5 reasons CA employers are sued; I think you’ll be really surprised by #1. Meanwhile, let us know how we can help you clean up or avoid any of these target areas!
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