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California Labor Law is comprised of a set of statutes and regulations that govern employers and industries with respect to the labor and working conditions of their employees. California Labor Law has outpaced most other states with respect to its passage of new statutes and laws and many other states model their statutes and laws after California Labor Law. California Labor Law attorneys must constantly be watchful of new bills and new laws that may affect California overtime or other existing California labor laws.
For example, in 2006, the California Department of Labor passed new legislation regulating car washes. In 2000 the California Department of Labor passed legislation to protect computer programmers and IT professionals against overtime abuses.
This legislation was further changed in September 2008. These are two examples of how labor laws evolve as the times warrant. In many instances, new labor laws are created and passed due to a large number of abuses. This is true in any area of law. California Labor law has also affected employee meals and breaks. There has been an ongoing debate both in the courts and through persuasive opinions as to whether the
California
meal and break period, if not provided by an employer, should be considered a wage or a penalty. California labor law attorneys are trained to keep up with the constant changes, additions, and new amendments to the California labor law.
Below are some important excerpts from the California labor law that may apply to California employees:
Section 200.
As used in this article: (a) "Wages" includes all amounts for labor performed by employees of every description, whether the amount is fixed or ascertained by the standard of time, task, piece, commission basis, or other method of calculation.
Section 201. If an employer discharges an employee, the wages earned and unpaid at the time of discharge are due and payable immediately.
Section 202. If an employee not having a written contract for a definite period quits his employment, his wages shall become due and payable not later than 72 hours thereafter, unless the employee has given 72 hours previous notice of his intention to quit, in which case the employee is entitled to his wages at the time of quitting.
Section 226. (a) Every employer shall semimonthly, or at the time of each payment of wages, furnish each of his or her employees either as a detachable part of the check, draft, or voucher paying the employee's wages, or separately when wages are paid by personal check or cash, an itemized statement in writing showing: (1) gross wages earned; (2) total hours worked by each employee whose compensation is based on an hourly wage; (3) all deductions; provided, that all deductions made on written orders of the employee may be aggregated and shown as one item; (4) net wages earned; (5) the inclusive dates of the period for which the employee is paid; (6) the name of the employee and his or her social security number; and (7) the name and address of the legal entity which is the employer.
Section 226.7 (a) No employer shall require any employee to work during any meal or rest period mandated by an applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission. (b) If an employer fails to provide an employee a meal period or rest period in accordance with an applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, the employer shall pay the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation for each work day that the meal or rest period is not provided.
Note: To expand upon California break laws and for clarification purposes, California labor laws for breaks and meal periods (more commonly referred to as lunch breaks) require that the employer provide non-exempt employees with a 30 minute uninterrupted meal break after 5 hours of work (unless the employee's workday is completed within 6 hours). California break laws also require that the employer provide a 10 minute break time after each 3 ½ hours of work. Such 10 minute worker break times must be paid by the employer. In addition, California employee break laws relating to lunch breaks provide that if the type of job performed by the employee doesn’t allow a 30 minute uninterrupted break, the employee may enter into a written agreement to take an on duty lunch break. However, this is the exception to the rule and most jobs under California meal and lunch break laws, do not qualify for “on duty” meal breaks.
Section 2802. (a) An employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties, or of his or her obedience to the directions of the employer, even though unlawful, unless the employee, at the time of obeying the directions, believed them to be unlawful.
Note: California labor code 2802 is most commonly applied in the area of California mileage reimbursement. Pursuant to California Labor Code 2802, non-commuting (i.e. travel from job site to job site) mileage must be reimbursed by the employer if the employee is driving their own vehicle and the mileage is incurred in the discharge of the employee’s duties. In most instances, employers do not have to provide California auto mileage expense reimbursement to employees for driving from their home to the workplace. In the experience of our labor attorneys, the area of California mileage reimbursement law is one of the most abused by employers.
Section 351. No employer or agent shall collect, take, or receive any gratuity or a part thereof that is paid, given to, or left for an employee by a patron, or deduct any amount from wages due an employee on account of a gratuity, or require an employee to credit the amount, or any part thereof, of a gratuity against and as a part of the wages due the employee from the employer. Every gratuity is hereby declared to be the sole property of the employee or employees to whom it was paid, given, or left for. An employer that permits patrons to pay gratuities by credit card shall pay the employees the full amount of the gratuity that the patron indicated on the credit card slip, without any deductions for any credit card payment processing fees or costs that may be charged to the employer by the credit card company. Payment of gratuities made by patrons using credits cards shall be made to the employees not later than the next regular payday following the date the patron authorized the credit card payment.
Our California labor law attorneys are ready to assist if you feel your employer may be in violation of California labor laws and you have a potential claim. We offer a free case review.
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