California Workplace & Employment Law Blog

If you run a business in California, you already know the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) can turn routine payroll mistakes into staggering liability. A single missing line item on a wage statement, repeated across hundreds of pay periods for employees can generate a penalty with five, six or even seven figures attached. What a lot of employers don’t realize is how much control they still have over that number. A recently published decision is one of the clearest illustrations yet of that principle in action.

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.