California Employment Lawyer

Jim Brown and Marc Koonin of the California Employment Law Letter offer a useful Top 10 list of “Need to Knows” about California wage & hour laws:

1. Know California’s daily and weekly overtime rates for various hours worked;
2. Overtime requirements apply to almost all types of wages, not just hourly wages or salaries;
3. You must compensate employees for all hours you “suffer or permit” them to work;
4. Be familiar with the specific “wage order” that applies to your workforce;
5. Just because an employee is exempt as an executive, administrative, or professional employee under federal law, it doesn’t make him exempt under California law;
6. Vacation pay (including floating holidays and paid time off) constitutes wages under California law;
7. Provide sufficient rest and meal periods and accurately record employee meal periods;
8. Employers are limited with regard to the types of deductions they can make against an employee’s wages;
9. Pay nonexempt employees at least semimonthly under the requirements of the California Labor Code;
10. Pay your employees in an authorized manner and provide them with proper itemized wage statements:

• • the employer’s name and address;
  • the employee’s name and only the last four digits of her social security number;
  • the inclusive dates for which the employee is being paid;
  • the gross wages earned;
  • the net wages earned;
  • the total hours worked for nonexempt employees;
  • for employees paid on a piece-rate basis, the applicable piece rate and units earned;
  • all applicable hourly rates; and
  • all deductions.

You can read the article here.

By CHARLES H. JUNG