Source: https://workplacelegalpc.com/call-in-scheduling-triggers-reporting-time-pay/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 03:20:06+00:00

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The California Court of Appeal recently ruled in Ward v. Tilly’s Inc. that employers who utilize “on call” scheduling have to pay reporting time pay to their employees. This decision is sending shockwaves through California’s restaurant and retail industries because it will significantly increase payroll costs for those employers — and all others who require employees to call in for their shifts prior to working.
What is “Reporting Time Pay”?
What this means is that if an employee is scheduled to work on a day, and if the employee is prohibited from working or if given less than half of his/her usual shift, the employer owes that employee “reporting time pay” equal to 50% of that employee’s usual shift wages, with the minimum owed being 2 hours and the maximum owed being 4 hours.
In Ward v. Tilly, employees were scheduled for two different types of shifts: (1) regular shifts, in which employees were guaranteed work on a set time and date, and (2) “call-in” or “on-call” shifts, in which employees worked only if they were told to do so when they called-in 2 hours before their on-call shift start time. The employer did not pay its employees for the time they spent calling in or for the on-call shifts that they were not required to work.
This is a major expansion of employer’s reporting time pay obligations in California. Prior to Ward v. Tilly, reporting time pay was through to be triggered only when an employee presented himself/herself at work and then was denied work or given less than half his/her usual shift. But Ward v. Tilly has changed that. Now simply requiring an employee to make a call from home will trigger reporting pay in California if that employee is not given at least half of his/her usual shift when he/she calls in.
California employers who require employees to call in for their schedule may want to end that practice now after Ward v. Tilly. after this decision. and will likely lead many restaurants and retail companies to change their shift scheduling policies in order to avoid paying reporting time pay.
You can read the Court’s opinion in Ward v. Tilly here.

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