Source: https://recovermywages.com/flsa-vs-california-overtime-law/
Timestamp: 2017-09-25 04:07:59
Document Index: 669327286

Matched Legal Cases: ['§515', '§515', '§1', '§11010', '§1', '§500', '§ 1194']

California Overtime Law Easily Explained for Employees (2017 Edition)
California Overtime Law – A Simple Guide
Talk to any employment lawyer and it is an everyday occurrence, employers conning their employees out of their wages by reinforcing myths about California overtime law. These unlawful acts are often perpetrated by supervisors exploiting vulnerable workers who are already struggling to make ends meet. A recent a survey conducted by the Economic Policy Institute found that employers in the state of California had cheated their workers out of more than eight billion dollars in wages in the 2015 calendar year. Unfortunately it isn’t just smaller businesses engaged in these bad acts, many Fortune 500 companies also have been forced to settle claims in recent years.
The Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA for short) and California state law both set forth the law of the land for mandatory overtime. California, however provides the most protective standards. These wage and hour laws have been part of California’s long standing history and tradition of recognizing that employer and employee do not deal on an equal footing. The California Supreme Court in Gentry v. Superior Court for example has stressed the importance of these labor laws by stating that they “serve the important public policy goal of protecting employees in relatively weak bargaining positions against the evil of ‘overwork.” So what do you need to do to protect yourself and ensure that your boss doesn’t swindle you out of your hard earned dollars? Read this guide to find out.
In California, workers are entitled to overtime compensation for work they perform in excess of maximum hours, unless they fall into one of the narrowly defined exemptions. Nonexempt employees should be paid no less than one and one-half times (1.5X) their regular rate of pay for any work performed:
In excess of 8 hours in any one workday;
In excess of 40 hours in one work week;
The first eight hours performed on the seventh consecutive day of work in one workweek.
Nonexempt workers must be paid double (2X) their regular rate of pay for work performed:
In excess of twelve hours in one workday;
In excess of eight hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in one workweek;
In addition, other specific rules exist for certain industries that are set by the Industrial Welfare Commission (“IWC”) in its Wage Orders. For example, Wage Order 14-2001 defines overtime for agricultural workers as work performed in excess of 10 hours (instead of 8) in a workday, more than 6 days in a workweek, and during the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in any workweek.
Although there is overlap, the federal definition overtime is much narrower and therefore provides less protection. More specifically it states that work performed by a nonexempt employee in excess of 40 hours in one workweek must be paid at one and one-half times (1.5X) their regular rate of pay (exactly the same as California). The FLSA does not allow: daily accrual, any premiums at double the regular rate of pay, or accrual on the seventh consecutive day of work.
California employers are subject to whichever law is most protective of employees. Additionally, as an added measure of protection, Labor Code 1194, states that agreements provided by employers waiving overtime, even when voluntarily signed by an employee are unenforceable.
1.) They are paid a monthly salary equivalent to no less than twice California’s minimum wage (or $3,640/month for 2017) for full time employment;
The exemption also applies to employees in the computer software industry who are primarily engaged in intellectual or creative work that requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment. (Lab C §515.5.) For the exemption to apply, the computer professional must be primarily engaged in one of the following duties (Lab C §515.5(a)(2)):
•	The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software, or system functional specifications;
•	The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications; or
•	The documentation, testing, creation, or modification of computer programs related to the design of software or hardware for computer operating systems.
In addition, the employee’s hourly wage must be no less than $43.25 ($88,231.36) for full time employment, and the computer professional is required to be highly skilled and proficient in the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized information to computer systems analysis, programming, or software engineering.
Outsides salespersons are also exempt from overtime. These are people who are eighteen years old or older who customarily and regularly spend more than 50% of their working time away from the employer’s place of business selling tangible or intangible goods or obtaining orders, contracts for products, services, or use of facilities. An example of an outside Salesperson is someone who goes door to door selling solar panels. (Wage Order Nos. 1–2001—16–2001, §1 (8 Cal Code Regs §§11010–11160, §1).)
Certain commissioned sales persons are also exempt when (1) their earnings exceed one and one half times the California minimum wage ($15.75 in 2017), (2) more than half of their compensation is derived from commissions on sales of goods and services, and (3) the person works in the mercantile industry (See IWC Wage Order 7-2001) or works in a professional, technical, clerical, mechanical or similar occupation. (See IWC Wage Order 4-2001.)
•	Premium rates for all overtime worked; and
•	The wages, hours of work, and working conditions of the union workers;
•	A regular hourly rate of pay of not less than thirty percent more than the state minimum wage rate.
No, you are not entitled to premium compensation solely because you worked on a weekend or a holiday. The court held in Advanced-Tech Sec. Servs., Inc. v Superior Court (2008) 163 CA4th 700, the court held that an employee who already received premium pay at one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate for working on a holiday was not entitled to any additional overtime. The court rejected the employee’s holiday premium rate should be transformed into the employee’s regular rate for purposes of calculating overtime.
The regular rate of pay is an employee’s hourly rate. It includes all remunerations paid to an employee, except matters specifically excluded. If bonuses are provided in addition to the hourly rate, those bonuses must be divided by the number of hours worked in the week and added to the hourly rate so that the regular rate can be determined. Example: Steve gets paid $15 an hour as a clerk a grocery store. He gets a $100 performance bonus for the work he performed during a particular week. That specific week he worked 40 hours. Therefore, Steve’s regular rate of pay is: $100/40 hours=$2.5 per hour. $15+$2.5=$17.5 per hour.
Calculating the regular rate for salaried nonexempt employees is much more complex. It is determined by dividing the weekly salary of an employee by the number hours the salary was intended to cover (up to maximum 40 hours). Example: Christina gets an annual salary of $60,000 a year. To calculate her regular rate, first you take her total annual salary and divide it by the total number of weeks in a year (hint there are 52 weeks in a year.) $60,000/52 weeks=$1,153.85 salary per week. Then you divide that number by the agreed upon number of hours your salary is intended to compensate you per week (not to exceed 40 hours). Here, Christina typically works 50 hours a week, so we can assume the agreed upon number of hours per week is 40. $1,153.85/40 hours= $28.85 regular rate per hour.
California state law and Federal law provide that nonexempt employees are entitled to overtime pay for work performed in excess of 40 hours in one “workweek.” But what exactly is the definition of a “workweek”? Usually the law will defer to the employer, but if an employer has not predesignated the workweek, the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement treats workweeks as beginning at midnight on Sunday and ending on Saturday. (Lab C §500(b); 2002 DLSE Enforcement Policies and Interpretation Manual.)
Despite the fact that California law provides a broader definition of overtime and additional protections, it does not provide liquidated damages. Instead, under labor code Lab code § 1194 it provides back pay, interest, attorney fees and costs of suit. Potential litigants should therefore calculate damages pursuant to the FLSA and the California statutes prior to make a decision on which one they will proceed under.
What few aggrieved workers know is that they can actually request their payroll records from their employer. These records will in turn help them calculate the backpay and provide the necessary evidence they need to prove their claim. Pursuant to California Labor Code section 226 an employer must keep records of wage statements regarding their employees’ hours worked and wages paid, and must upon reasonable oral or written request from a particular current/former employee allow him or her to inspect or copy the records. The employer must comply with the request as soon as practicable, but no later than 21 days after the request. Under the code, if an employer does not comply, the current/former employee is entitled to a $750 penalty from the employer. If you believe that your employer has unlawfully engaged in wage theft, please give us a call for a free legal consultation with an employment attorney and we will make a request to inspect your employer’s records on your behalf. Alternatively, you can request your records directly from your human resources department.