California has long has a reputation of one of the states that has most protective of employee rights, and all businesses in California or employing California resident must be aware of the laws governing overtime pay. All time during which an employee is “under the control of the employer,” including daily work duties, closing duties, uniform changes, and other job-related tasks is to be compensated at the full hourly rate. As a California employee, it is important to know your rights and laws.

California law requires not only that employees pay 1.5 times your standard hourly rate after 40 hours in a week as mandated by federal law, but also after 8 hours in a single day and on the 7th consecutive day of work and beyond. Employers must also pay double the standard hourly rate after 12 working hours in a single 24 hour period, after 8 hours on a 7th consecutive day of work, and under other circumstances such as state and national holidays. Employees on “standby” or “on call” status must also be paid for their commitment whether they are called to active duty or not.

State law provides very clear outlines of how workers are to be compensated for their time as well as a very specific set of exemptions. The major exempted classes are Executive, Administrative, Professional and Computer Professional categories, and in the view of the law these classes of employee are paid a salary for completing their job duties as opposed to an hourly rate for their time.

Exempted employees are not covered by the standard California overtime pay law, and must meet a number of requirements in order to become exempt. An Executive Exemption is only triggered when an employee both makes at least $640 weekly and meets certain requirements on level of authority within the company.

Administrative exemptions are commonly limited to the supporting fields of companies such as human resources, finance and legal departments, and even within these areas an employee must hold influence on significant matters before becoming ineligible for overtime, making this one of the most difficult exemptions to prove.

The Professional exemption only applies to employees holding advanced degrees, recognized merit in directly creative artistic pursuits, or licensure by the State of California to practice in a field such as law, engineering or accounting. This exemption also requires that an employee have a broad measure of control over day to day duties as well as a high level of operating freedom.

California is well-known for its high-tech culture, and the design of the Computer Professional exemption reflects this. Only computer programmers who play a central role in design and analysis of software are exempt from the overtime law, with most technicians who spend 50 percent or more of their time writing code for specific tasks entitled to overtime pay under California state law.

The California state overtime law is intended to limit abuses of employee freedom by companies, outlining acceptable compensation and time-tracking to protect their rights. Exemptions from this protection are extremely limited, and the burden of proving the validity of an exemption always falls on the employer.

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There are several things you should know about reporting time pay in California. The law in California has different sections which are aimed at protecting the right of employees. There are different sections where the law protects you as an employee from different forms of exploitation.

Things you need to know about Reporting time pay in California

1. What is reporting time pay?

Some employees will call workers but the work can end up being assigned less than the normal work day work, in such a case, the employee will be paid for reporting to work. The law requires the employer to pay the worker for the time he worked and the rest of the hours will be paid under reporting wage rate. For example, if an employee will report to work and work for an hour instead of four hours, the employer will pay him on regular rates for the one hour worked and pay him based on reporting wage for the next three hours. If an employee reports to work and does not work at all, then the employer is obliged to pay for two hours based on waiting time.

2. Time paid as reporting time pay does not trigger overtime pay.

If an employer will be paid waiting time and the amount exceeds the normal pay rate, then the employer does not have to count the excess overtime. The law prohibits the act to avoid expatiation on employees.

3. Reporting time pay and meetings.

If the employer reports to work and he works for half the time he was supposed to work, then the employer can pay for the only time worked. There is debate on the amount the employee can be paid if he is called for a meeting during his work day and he was not on duty. But in normal cases the employee is paid two hours of normal work day as reporting time.

4. Exceptions to the reporting time requirements.

There are circumstances where employers are not entitled to reporting time payment. They include the following incidences:

When operation cannot begin due to threats to employer’s property, when civil authorities recommend for the work not to start

When public utilities fail to supply power or other amenities required for the running of the operations.

When acts of God such as earthquake cause an interruption which is beyond employers control.

5. What if the employee voluntarily leaves early?

If an employee leaves work early due to personal or other needs, the employer is not entitled to pay for the reporting wage.

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If you have unpaid wages that your employer has neglected to pay you, there are certain actions you need to take. Unpaid wages come in various forms like wage theft, shortened hours worked, unlawful deductions among others. The first action you need to take is to inform your employer to confirm whether it was a mistake or not. If your employer says it wasn’t an issue, then the next step you need to do is gather all of your work records and add any other expenses that resulted from receiving your wages late. Try to find out whether the late payment was as a result of processing error or from a bank mistake.

If you realize that your employer doesn’t pay you the minimum wage as stated in the law, or you didn’t get your wages for the time you worked as overtime, you need to come to United Employees Law Group. They will help you in making a claim for the unpaid wages. There are federal laws that set the minimum wage at $7.25 per hour and the weekly hours as forty hours per week. Here we shall help you make the claim for all your unpaid wages. Ensure you have a record of the hours worked and that which were overtime and yet to get paid.

When your employer promises a bonus or a commission and fails to pay it, the employee cannot force the employer to pay the bonus or the commission, as the Fair Labor Standards Act has no provision for payment of bonuses and commissions earned. However, this doesn’t mean that you let it go. If you had a contractual right to get the premium, you could claim it. You first have to establish that you had a clear agreement with the employer. Write a letter to the company and notify them of the issue and if they fail to respond, you can opt to seek legal address to the matter in small claims court when the claim is very small.

Wage theft takes the form of illegal underpayment or the non-payment of lawfully earned wages owed to workers. If you, or someone you know, are facing legal issues in the workplace United Employees Law Group has the answers. Call Today for your free and confidential case review. Please feel free to CONTACT US with any questions about this blog or your exact situation.

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