California Workplace & Employment Law Blog

As previously reported, just over a year ago, the California Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision instituting a new test, called the “ABC test,” to determine whether a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor instead of an employee. On May 3, 2019, the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), issued an opinion letter providing California employers with further insight on how the Labor Commissioner’s Office plans to apply the ABC test.

Many California employers are not aware that they are required to pay nonexempt (meaning “hourly”) employees for time traveling to, and attending, work-related functions such as conferences, seminars, and trainings.  Although travel time from home to work and back is usually not compensable, most other travel time that is required for work is considered work time that must be paid.

Last month, the California Court of Appeal issued a decision stating that a retail employer’s call-in scheduling policy—in which employees were required to call the employer in advance of a shift to find out if they needed to show up for work—triggered the “reporting time” obligation under Wage Order No. 7-2001. In Ward v. Tilly’s, Inc., the court significantly broadened the scope of California’s reporting time pay requirement.