The question of whether an employee is entitled to overtime compensation has been a subject of litigation and controversy of late in California. The main reason behind yours is the fact that the fact that an employee is entitled to overtime pay is a factual investigation that depends on the specific facts and circumstances of one’s employment.
However, there are several strict principles that are important to keep in mind regarding overtime wages, whether you are an employer or an employee:
1. Overtime compensation cannot be waived. Any agreement by an employee to waive overtime pay or accept less than the statutory rate is invalid and unenforceable. In other words, even if the employer and the employee sign a written agreement agreeing that the employee will not seek overtime pay, the employee can still sue and prevail to later demand overtime pay. for hours worked in excess of the legal workweek.
2. Overtime wage rate: In California, the employer must be employed one and a half times their “regular” rate for every hour worked over 40 hours per week, or for any time worked more than 8 hours per week. . day. The employer must pay double the time when the employee works more than 12 hours a day. Under state law, the regular rate of pay is calculated by dividing a weekly wage into 40 hours or a normal workweek. The regular rate includes bonuses and commissions that the employee could be earning as part of their salary. The fact that the commission is paid on a basis other than weekly and that the payment is delayed some time after the employee’s normal pay day or period does not exempt the employer from including this payment in the employee’s regular rate.
3. Certain employees are exempt from overtime laws. Under federal law, workers employed in a bona fide executive, managerial, or professional capacity are exempt from overtime pay benefits.
Certain types of employees are also exempt from overtime rules by law. This includes amusement park / recreation park employees, outside vendors, sailors, criminal investigators, computer systems analysts, babysitters, and personal assistants.
If negotiated as part of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, employers can require employees to work more than 40 hours per week without overtime pay, as long as no more than 1,040 hours are worked during any consecutive 26-week period; or no more than 2,240 hours are worked during any 52 consecutive week period. Additionally, state overtime law does not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement that provides an hourly rate of at least 30% of the minimum wage and “premium” wage rates for overtime work.
4. Time Counts for Overtime, Except for Regular Work Hours – Waiting or “on-call” time may be compensable under federal law, if it is used primarily for the benefit of the employer and its business. This, of course, depends on the specific circumstances of each case. Under California law, an employee must be paid for time considered on duty while on the employer’s premises.
Setup and setup time can also be compensated if these activities are an integral part of the employee’s core activity, such as greasing, greasing, and cleaning a running machine before using it as part of job duties.
Travel time and commuting between home and work are generally not compensable under the Portal to Portal Act. Even if the employer provides a car for the employee’s use on the journey to and from work, the travel time is not compensable.
Meal periods are generally not compensable if the employee is relieved of all duties. However, if an employee is unable to leave the workplace (gas station employees, 7/11, etc.), the meal period counts as time worked for overtime purposes, even if the employee is relieved of all work tasks during lunchtime.
Training: the time spent attending conferences, training programs or meetings is not compensable if (i) the attendance takes place outside normal working hours, (ii) it is voluntary, (iii) the session covers material that is not directly related with the employee’s work, and (iv) if the employee does not perform any productive work during the session.
There are no seven-day workweeks: California law states that each employee is entitled to one day of rest in every seven and prohibits employers from requiring employees to work more than six days in seven consecutive days. This seventh day off requirement does not apply when the employee works less than 30 hours a week or six hours on any day during the week.
5. Taking time off instead of overtime: Under California law, employers cannot require employees to take time off instead of overtime compensation. But employees have the right to request compensatory time off at the rate of one and a half hours for each extra hour worked, provided there is a written agreement that establishes this arrangement before performing the work.
