Wage & Hour Issues

I was recently retained by a new client to defend the company against wage and hour charges brought by a former employee that were filed with the California Labor Commissioner’s office. As I do whenever I get a new client, I asked if they had an employee handbook or other written personnel policies. Unfortunately, they did not. This makes it much more difficult to defend against employment claims brought by employees. The failure to have written policies may be taken as evidence that you do not comply with your legal obligations.

Last week, the California Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision adopting a new test that will make it much harder for companies to show that workers qualify as independent contractors instead of employees.  The ruling affects all companies in California that work with independent contractors, which includes freelance workers and outside consultants. The Court’s decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles may end up requiring companies that work with independent contractors to follow wage and hour laws that apply in the typical employer-employee relationship.

The California Labor Code allows employers to choose the beginning and end times of the “workday” and “workweek” as long as the “workday” covers a consecutive 24-hour period commencing at the same time each calendar day, and the “workweek” covers any seven consecutive days starting with the same calendar day each week.  This is important because once defined, the employer’s “workday” and “workweek” become the benchmarks by which overtime pay is determined.