The California Court of Appeal recently found that employees are not entitled to “reporting-time pay” when they report to work for a scheduled shift (such as for a meeting) and work at least one-half of the scheduled time, even when that time is less than two hours.
The Court also ruled that an employee is not entitled to a “split-shift” premium if the employee’s daily compensation already exceeds the minimum wage for all hours worked plus an additional hour.
In the case before the Court, the Plaintiffs complained that they were only paid for only the length of the meeting but argued they were entitled to “reporting-time pay” on those days when they had to report to work just to attend the meeting. Plaintiffs also claimed they were denied “split-shift” compensation on days when they attended a meeting in the morning, and then returned to work their regular shift later the same day.
The defense asserted that no monies were owed for “reporting time pay” and that the employees had been properly compensated for any split-shifts that were worked. At the trial court level, the case was dismissed in favor of the defendant employer. On Appeal, the court supported the dismissal of the case.
Reporting Time Pay Issues
The issue as to the Reporting Time Pay was whether the employees were entitled to additional compensation under Wage Order 4 which provides:
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“Each workday an employee is required to report for work and does report, but is not put to work or is furnished less than half said employee’s usual or scheduled day’s work, the employee shall be paid for half the usual or scheduled day’s work, but in no event for less than two (2) hours nor more than four (4) hours, at the employee’s regular rate of pay, which shall not be less than the minimum wage.”
Plaintiffs argued they were entitled to be paid a minimum of two hours on days when they were required to report to work just to attend a meeting, regardless of whether the meeting was scheduled or whether the employee worked more than one-half of the scheduled time. The Court of Appeal disagreed, finding that Reporting Time Pay was not owed because, even if the scheduled meeting lasted less than two hours, the employee would still be furnished more than one-half of the scheduled day’s work.
By example, the Court explained the rationale in a hypothetical situation: An employee’s only scheduled work for the day is a mandatory meeting scheduled to last one and one-half hours. However, the meeting is finished after one hour. In this situation, the employee only worked one hour and the employee would not be entitled to reporting-time pay, because the employee still was furnished work for at least one-half of the scheduled 1.5 hour meeting.
However, if the meeting had been cut short after one-half hour, then the employee would be entitled to two hours of Reporting Time Pay, because the employee would have been furnished work for less than one-half of the scheduled time.
Split Shift Premium Pay
Under the provisions of California Wage Order #4, a “split-shift” is defined as:
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“a work schedule, which is interrupted by non-paid non-working periods established by the employer, other than bona fide rest or meal periods.”
If an employee works a split-shift, the employee is entitled to one hour of pay at the minimum wage in addition to the minimum wage for that workday.
In this case, the court found that the Plaintiff had worked a “split-shift” on several occasions when the employees were required to attend a meeting in the morning, then returned for a longer shift later the same day. But the Court agreed with the defense which asserted that the employee was properly paid because the total daily pay exceeded the minimum wage for all hours worked plus an additional hour at minimum wage. So no additional minimum wage payment was required.
The Court determined that an employee who works eight hours on a split-shift must receive minimum compensation of nine hours times the minimum wage, as opposed to eight hours of regular wages plus one hour of minimum wage.
What Should I Do?
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If meetings are scheduled during times that employees are not regularly scheduled, ensure that you comply with the Reportage Time Pay obligations.
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If the scheduled meeting is the only reason the employee reports to work that day, and the employee works at least one-half of the time scheduled, no additional Reporting Time Pay is owed for attending such meetings.
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If an employee is scheduled for a split shift, ensure that they have been paid either the split shift premium of one additional hour of pay (if they earn minimum wage) or if they earn more than minimum wage no additional split shift premium is due. (Aleman v. AirTouch Cellular )