All California business owners should understand the details of both California and federal wage and hour laws. The penalties for a violation of either could destroy a business that took years to build. Even the smallest of businesses can benefit from having a business-specific employee policy manual to navigate the choppy waters of wage and hour law.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor an estimated 80% of employers are not in compliance with either federal or state wage and hour laws. Within recent years, a number of U.S. employers have found themselves on the opposite side of class-action lawsuits by workers who claim that they have been misclassified as contractors rather than employees, and not paid the overtime or given the required meal and rest periods due to employees. As the recession drags on with more layoffs, longer work weeks, and a bare-bones work force, more claims are likely to arise.
How Does the Fair Labor and Standards Act Protect Employees?
The Fair Labor and Standards Act (FLSA) requires that most employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage plus “overtime” pay. “Overtime” is pay received for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. However, under the FLSA certain employees are exempt from being paid both the minimum wage and overtime. It is the failure to properly classify a group of employees as “exempt” or “non-exempt” which creates the most trouble for employers. Employees who are exempt from required payment of overtime include executive, administrative, and professional employees. In some industries these classifications are easy to define; in others, they are not, although the FLSA does describe the managerial duties that help define an “exempt” employee.
How Does the California Labor Code Protect an Employee’s Meal Periods?
Under the California Labor Code an employee must be provided a 30-minute meal period after five hours of work. The penalties for a violation are strict, and even retail giants
have been held responsible for not following the law. Consider a recent case against Home Depot, where thousands of employees complained that they were not allowed to take lunch breaks. The suit resulted in a $25.5 million settlement that gave individual employees amounts ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. California is known for having some of the strictest wage and hour laws in the country – laws that protect a diverse work force in a variety of work situations.
A Business-Specific Employee Policy Manual Helps Prevent Wage-and-Hour Law Violations
The economic downturn has led to layoffs, and the reduced staff that remains may put in extra hours to get the job done and may skip meals or rest breaks. This can put your business at risk for being out of compliance with wage and hour laws.
San Diego Law Firm helps businesses avoid this hazard by preparing business-specific employee policy manuals. Your manual will contain formal policies to define exempt and non-exempt employees in your business, and guidelines to make sure that non-exempt employees do not put in uncompensated overtime or miss meal and rest breaks. To set up an appointment, please call us at (619) 794-0243. We look forward to helping you.
