For example, employers can set up timesheets or clocks so that employees can`t “connect” to work before or after the shift. You can discourage employees from reporting overtime. Not all illegal work outside the watch is explicitly requested by an employer. Many employers are vaguely familiar with California labor laws and find more subtle ways to get employees to do unpaid work. I received a few questions this week that I haven`t heard in a while: How do employers keep time records? Can they be stored electronically or do they have to be written? One follow-up question was: Do employers need a computerized time tracking system to meet their requirements under California law? With advances in technology, it`s hard to remember that these issues were on everyone`s lips just 10 years ago, but today it`s sometimes assumed that it must be legal to keep these records electronically. However, this research raises good questions about employers` obligations under the Labour Code to create and maintain time records. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly, depending on your view of how slowly the law adapts to technological progress), the Labour Code does not deal directly with this issue. However, there are some guiding principles that employers can consider when making a decision about which practices are best for their business. This Friday`s Five covers five main obligations that employers should consider when setting up time tracking systems: If you work off the clock, you might be able to receive compensation. The first step in defending your rights is to contact a law firm with experience in employment law. However, not all law firms can provide you with the results you want. Working off the clock is illegal under California labor laws. Any work outside the watch, whether seconds or minutes, must be compensated.
Download our free employee clock customization form below to cover all your bases! Or better yet, book a free demo here to see how we optimize watch publishing with digital signatures. Saving paper and time? Sounds good to us! Off-clock work occurs whenever an employee performs paperless work. These include performing work tasks before stamping or after stamping, working during certain breaks, and other situations where workers perform work tasks without recording their pay time. Employers can try to get employees to do work off the clock to avoid getting paid for all the work done. And while many employees are exempt from employees under the California employee exemption, many are not. The legal definition of an exempt worker does not depend on whether they receive a wage or hourly wage.3 California`s grace period policy allows the employee to check in early and not get paid for the first ten minutes. However, she also cannot be ordered or expected to do the job within that ten-minute period. Workers in some industries may encounter encounters off the clock more often than others. Workers in the freight forwarding industry have questioned their industry`s practice of misclassifying workers as contractors rather than employees in order not to pay them benefits. When an employee is classified as a contractor, they can do much more off-clock work than an employee and it can be more difficult to take action against the problem. Employers could introduce a grace period policy that allows workers using automated clocks to enter upon arrival without having to worry about forgetting to knock when they actually start working. Employees can then do whatever they want until the start of their shift.
Given that the hourly clock rules for hourly employees require California employers to pay for all hours of work, is rounding time legal? Rounding up the hours worked in CA may be legal, but it depends on the details of your situation. In July 2018, in troester vs. Starbucks, the California Supreme Court ruled that even working a few minutes before or after stamping is a compensable time for which an employee is entitled to compensation. Sometimes off-clock work is work that would have been paid at the employee`s regular rate of pay. Often, however, these are jobs for which the employee should have paid one and a half or twice as much overtime. Working on the watch is illegal under federal and California labor laws. However, while federal laws may allow small increases in work outside the clock, California law completely prohibits working off the clock. This stems from a California Supreme Court decision in a timeless lawsuit. It is illegal for hourly employees to work outside the clock. This rule applies even to short periods or minimus of off-clock work in California. In 2018, the California Supreme Court ruled in Troester v. Starbucks that an employer had to pay its hourly employees for daily tasks outside the clock, even if the tasks were very short.
The court`s reasoning was that short work assignments outside of supervision over time resulted in a significant portion of the lost wages. In 2020, the court upheld this reasoning in another case, Frlekin v. Apple, Inc. There, the court found that the employer had to pay its hourly employees for the time they spent before and after work going through mandatory security bag checks. In some cases, safety luggage was only checked for a few minutes. In other cases, however, employees had to wait up to 45 minutes for security personnel to check in their luggage. California law does not require the use of electronic timing systems or clocks. Employers can choose to use paper and pen to record an employee`s time. As explained below, records must be “indelible,” meaning time entries cannot be deleted, deleted, or modified.
But even with only a handful of employees, many employers find it more efficient to use an electronic time tracking system. The transition to an electronic time tracking system can reduce errors in recording and calculating time worked, make it easier to track changes, and make it easier to verify time entries if the employee ever gives a salary challenge.