Posts Tagged ‘ California Overtime ’

2 Ways Working Over 8 Hours DOESN’T Mean California Overtime Pay

March 22nd, 2013. By AbiK

Ever wonder what non-exempt work situations do NOT qualify for overtime pay? While there are fairly stringent laws and guidelines in place for what requires California employers to pay overtime wages, there are a couple of situations where, as a worker who puts in over eight hours on a given workday, you are actually not eligible for California overtime pay. Let’s take a look at both examples, which are explained in more detail (and a bit more jargon) at the California Department of Industrial Relations DLSE section on their website.

1. Make-up Time.

If a non-exempt employee requests time off that will be unpaid, he/she can “make up” that time and it will not be considered eligible time for California overtime pay so long as these requirements are met:

• The employee may not work more than 11 hours on another work day, and he/she may not work more than 40 hours in the workweek to make up for the time off. The make up time, in effect, is an equal “swap” for the time the employee would’ve normally worked within the same workweek.
• The time the employee missed must be made up within the same workweek.
• The employee needs to provide a signed written request to the employer for each occasion that they want to makeup time.
• Employers cannot encourage or otherwise solicit an employee to request makeup time.

2. Alternate Work Week Arrangements.

It’s common practice in some industries for a non-exempt California employee to work an alternate workweek schedule. One of the most common arrangements involves working a 4-day-a-week, 10-hours-per-day schedule (typically called a “4/10” schedule). Alternate work week arrangements require a formal agreement and adherence to certain California Labor regulations (see DLSE overtime exceptions).

As long as the employer has complied with all regulatory matters, an alternate work week employee is not owed California overtime pay for working more than 8 hours in a workday (due to the alternate work schedule), so long as he/she does not work more than 40 hours during the workweek.

For more information see our California Labor and California Overtime pages.

Tags: Alternate Workweek Schedule, California Labor, California Overtime, Makeup Time, Overtime Pay, Overtime Violation, Wage and Hour
Posted in Emerging Issues, Employment | No Comments »

Study says LA surpasses NYC, Chicago in Wage Theft

March 8th, 2010. By AbiK

Every so often there’s a little news story out there that doesn’t get as much attention as it perhaps should. Take a story by Max Taves at LAWeekly.com not long ago. The headline: Unscrupulous Employers Skim $26.2 Million. Ok, surprise, surprise. But the real headline hits you when you read the subhead: That’s per week, from lower-income Angeleno’s paychecks.

$26.2 million per week? Rack that one up on an annual basis and now you’re talking over $1 billion in alleged wage theft.

Taves’ article (2/18/10) is based on a study co-authored by UCLA sociologist, Ruth Milkman, and Victor Narro. The 69-page study, Wage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles, concludes that 17% of LA county’s poorest workers are basically ripped off to the tune of $26.2 million each week—money they never see in their paychecks. Money that they should see in the form of minimum wage pay, overtime pay for time-and-a-half overtime worked, and rest and meal breaks. The reason, the authors argue, is that employers in LA county “know there’s no enforcement.”

What’s interesting in this study—aside from the sheer numbers involved—is that when the authors compared LA to those in NYC or Chicago, they found that LA low-wage workers were more likely to be Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: California Labor, California Overtime, Los Angeles, Milkman, Narro, Wage Theft
Posted in Emerging Issues, Employment | 1 Comment »

California Overtime at the Car Wash: Are Inspection Numbers for Real?

November 2nd, 2009. By AbiK

By now you’ve read the news about the California Labor Commissioner imposing close to $1 million in fines after a statewide investigation of the California carwash industry.

The investigation went as follows:

42 investigators

did

230 car wash inspections

netting

141 citations

for

103 car wash businesses 

The citations issued total $916,711.

Ok, great. There’s some progress. But here’s the part I’m having a hard time swallowing (as reported at Reuters; the bold is mine)…

Investigators found 49 businesses that failed to provide workers’ compensation coverage for their employees. Citations issued totaled $240,000 and businesses without workers’ compensation Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: California Overtime, Overtime Pay
Posted in Employment | No Comments »

A Fair and Just Legal System Also Needs Moderation

October 9th, 2009. By Hunter West

Important as it is for citizens to have legal recourse to sue in order to right a wrong, do you sometimes wonder if things are getting a bit out of hand? 

Case in point: in 2002 a detective with the New York Police Department (NYPD) accidentally shot himself in the knees while sitting on a chair and trying to holster his revolver. The following year he retired on a three-quarters disability pension and is now employed as a court officer in South Carolina making $24,000 annually. 

He also sued the City of New York and last November was awarded $4.5 million in damages by a jury. 

For accidentally shooting himself in the knee. For that kind money maybe we should all do that. 

Obviously, the former NYPD man found himself a talented lawyer who presumably argued that the revolver, issued by the department, was faulty. As the NYPD is an agent of the City, the Big Apple would be on the hook. 

Keep in mind that if we are injured, or victimized in concert with a situation or event through no fault of our own, we should have the right to seek compensation. 

Case in point: the scores of women who have unknowingly put themselves in harm’s way by simply subscribing to Yaz birth control. They believed Yaz (and Yasmin) to be a safe and effective oral contraceptive, only to find out the hard way about risks for life-threatening blood clots and thrombosis. Women—painfully young, healthy women—have died. 

And then there are the thousands of California workers who are robbed of their right to claim, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: California Overtime, lawsuits, New York, Yasmin, Yaz
Posted in Court of Public Opinion | No Comments »

Jack in the Box workers most likely get Jack in Overtime Lawsuits

October 5th, 2009. By AbiK

Hey, these are tough times. Just about every business is feeling the pinch and some, like a collection of Jack in the Box franchises owned by Roseville, California developer Abe Alizadeh, are feeling so pinched that they’re filing for bankruptcy protection. “Protection” is a key word here—and it’s the word folks like Patricia Morgan are focusing in on because it’s the word that’ll keep the likes of her and potentially 5,300 former co-workers of hers out of any settlement for unpaid overtime, unpaid hourly wages, and compensation for being required to work during rest breaks and unpaid lunch periods.

Morgan was fired from her job at Jack in the Box in 2008. As reported in the Sacramento Bee, it seems Morgan may have been having an “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” moment over the working conditions on the overnight shifts at Jack in the Box. Only thing is, she got canned before she perhaps was fed up enough to just walk on her own.

Ah, but then the truth (alleged!) came out and it seems there was a root cause for Morgan’s disenchantment with her working conditions. They sucked. Things like having to attend to Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: California Overtime, Jack in the Box
Posted in Employment | 1 Comment »