1. Current and former employees have the right to inspect or copy personnel files.
Under Labor Code section 1198.5 employees have the right to inspect or receive copies of personnel files and records relating to the employee’s performance or grievance concerning the employee. Employers are legally required to maintain personnel files for at least three years after the employee stops working for the employer. However, since the statute of limitations for wage and hour claims can extend back four years, many employers keep the files at least four years.

2. The terms “personnel file” or “personnel records” are not defined in the Labor Code.
Without the terms “personnel records” or “personnel file” ever being defined, there is considerable ambiguity about what documents should be keep in an employee’s personnel file.
While not legally binding on employers, there is some guidance from the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement(“DLSE”) expressing the following view:

Categories of records that are generally considered to be "personnel records" are those that are used or have been used to determine an employee’s qualifications for promotion, additional compensation, or disciplinary action, including termination. The following are some examples of "personnel records" (this list is not all inclusive):

  1. Application for employment
  2. Payroll authorization form
  3. Notices of commendation, warning, discipline, and/or termination
  4. Notices of layoff, leave of absence, and vacation
  5. Notices of wage attachment or garnishment
  6. Education and training notices and records
  7. Performance appraisals/reviews
  8. Attendance records

Employers should also consider placing the following documents in personnel files:

  • Signed arbitration agreements
  • Sexual harassment compliance records for supervisors
  • Sign acknowledgements of policy by employee (for example, confidentiality/proprietary information agreements, meal and rest break acknowledgments, handbook acknowledgments)
  • Wage Theft Protection Act notice
  • If commissioned employee, written commission agreement signed by both the employer and employee beginning January 1, 2013.
  • Warnings and disciplinary action documents.
  • Performance reviews
  • Documents of any grievance concerning the employee
  • Documents pertaining to when the employee was hired
  • Records pertaining to last day of work and documenting reason for departure from employment

3. Personnel records must be made available not less than 30 days from date employer receives a written request to view the file.
The employer may charge the employee for the costs of copying the file, but the charge cannot exceed actual cost of reproduction.

4. Employers have the right to redact the names of any other nonsupervisory employee that are listed in the employee’s personnel file before making it available to the employee.

5. Employers may be subject to a $750 penalty for not making requested records available.
The penalty can be assessed by the Labor Commissioner, and the employee could also bring an action to compel production of his or her file and recover attorney’s fees.

Five items parties need to understand about mediation.

1. Mediation is non-binding.
Mediation is a voluntary process in which litigants (or even parties prior to litigation) agree to use a private third-party to help settle the case. People sometimes confuse mediation with arbitration. Arbitration is when parties agree to use a private third-party to hear their case, much like a judge, to make decisions about the case, and eventually decide the case. Arbitration can be binding on the parties, and the arbitrator actually decides who is right and wrong as a matter of law. On the other hand, a mediator is not deciding any issues about the case, but is simply hearing both sides’ positions, and then works with the parties to see if there is a potential resolution that the parties would both agree to. The mediator has no ability to decide issues of the case, or make any binding rulings about the case. The mediator is only an unbiased third-party attempting to get the parties to consider a possible resolution to the case.

2. Mediation takes place with a private mediator –usually not the court.
The parties voluntarily agree upon the selection of a mediator. Usually the mediator has expertise in the area of the law that the case involves so that he or she can move quicker into the substance of the parties’ disagreement. There are many retired judges or lawyers that work as mediators. Some mediators are active practicing lawyers that also have a mediation service established.
The mediation usually takes place at the mediator’s office. Normally the mediator has the parties in separate rooms, and the mediator walks between the two rooms. There are many mediations where the parties will not see other side the entire day.

3. Negotiations during the mediation are privileged and cannot be used against either party during litigation.
California law prevents any of the negotiations or potential admissions made during mediation from being brought up in court or during litigation. The rationale for this rule is that the courts want people to be able to negotiate during mediation, this involves some give and take. Therefore, in order to assist the mediation process, any of the discussions or negotiations during mediation are prevented from being used against the other party. This allows parties to discuss items more freely during mediation in hopes of having a better chance at resolving the case. However, it should be noted that if a party makes an admission during mediation, the other party can still conduct discovery after the mediation and bring that admission into the case through the standard discovery process. So parties should follow their counsel’s advice about which facts to share during the mediation process. But rest assured, the fact that one party agreed to offer a certain amount to settle the case during mediation, this offer to settle cannot be brought up to the jury later in the case as a way to establish liability.

4. The mediator’s only role is to get the case settled.
The mediator is not there to make friends, tell you if he believes you more than the other side, or make a value judgment about the case or people involved. His or her role is simply to get the case resolved. This usually means that for a successful mediator both sides don’t like the mediator. This is because the mediator was able to move two opponents to agree to a resolution of the case, and to get to this point usually means that both sides are unhappy with the resolution.

5. Even if the case does not settle at mediation, it could still be a successful mediation.
The parties need to understand that mediation is a process and it is hard to settle cases in one day – even a long day – of mediation. Sometimes it is clear during the mediation that the parties cannot settle the case. Sometimes it takes the mediator working with the parities for weeks after the mediation to arrive at a settlement. If the case does not settle, it is also beneficial for the parties that during the course of a mediation to realize that maybe they are still too far apart to agree to a settlement and there needs to be further discovery and motions filed to narrow down the issues that are being litigated.

1. Meal and rest breaks.
If you did not know of this exposure already existed in California, can I recommend some reading here, here and here?

2. Exempt vs. non-exempt classification of employees.
The default under California law is that every employee is entitled to overtime pay at a rate of time and a half or double of the employee’s hourly rate of pay. An employee is not entitled to overtime if the employer meets its burden in establishing that the employees qualifies under one of legally proscribed exempt positions (the positions are called exempt because the employee is exempt from the overtime requirements). Some exempt positions are:

  • Executive
  • Administrative
  • Professional
  • Outside sales
  • Computer professional
  • Commissioned sales

Exempt positions have very nuanced requirements that must be met in order for the employee to properly be considered exempt from the overtime pay requirement. For a company to make a determination of whether an employee is exempt, it must approach this determination carefully, and ensure the employee is pay enough in a salary and performs duties required by the exemption. The company should also consider documenting the specific exemption the employee qualifies for. For a list of the possible exempt positions under California law, the DLSE published one here.

3. Off the clock work.
Employees must be paid for all hours that the employee is subject to the employer’s control. Generally, if the employer knows or has reason to believe that an employee is working, that work must be paid for. To prevent off the clock claims, employers should develop clear policies on time keeping and prohibiting off the clock work, as well as having a well thought out complaint mechanism for employees to utilize. A complaint procedure is a good defense for claims of off the clock work made after the fact.

4. Proper calculation of overtime.
Generally, employers must pay one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of eight hours up to and including 12 hours in any workday, and for the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek. In addition, employer must pay double the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 12 hours in any workday and for all hours worked in excess of eight on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek.

In addition, the “regular rate of pay” include not only the employee’s hourly rate, but also the amount of piecework earnings and commissions earned by the employee. These additional earning must be calculated into employee’s regular rate of pay. The employee’s time and a half or double time overtime must be calculated on this higher regular rate.

5. Independent contractor misclassification.
As I’ve written about previously, the classification of whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee is a multifactor test. Failure to conduct this analysis properly can expose employer to substantial civil penalties.
 

Here is a list of some of the required notices employers must provide to new employees in California. Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with five rules or items for the Friday’s Five list, but not this time – I blew through five items (it is California after all): 

Document Title

Link to Document

Notice to Employee (Wage Theft Prevention Act) (for non-exempt employees)

Download here

I-9 – Employment Eligibility Verification

Download here

Right to Workers’ Compensation Benefits pamphlet

Download here

State Disability Insurance Provisions pamphlet – DE 2515

Download here

Paid Family Leave pamphlet – DE 2511

Download here

Sexual Harassment pamphlet

Download here

New Health Insurance Marketplace Coverage Options Form

Form for employers with health insurance plans – download here

Form for employer without health insurance plans – download here

Other documents I often recommend that employers have in their new hire packets are:

·   Commission Agreement (if applicable)

·   Meal and Rest Break Acknowledgment of employer’s policy

·   Employee Handbook and Acknowledgment

 

The San Diego City Council approved an ordinance that increases the minimum wage required to be paid to workers within the city to $11.50 per hour by 2017. In addition the ordinance calls for the minimum wage to automatically increase every year after 2018 by indexing the minimum wage to inflation. Currently California’s minimum wage is set at $9.00 per hour, which increased from $8.00 per hour in July 2014. 

San Diego Proposed Minimum Wage Increases

Current Minimum Wage

$9.00 per hour

January 1, 2015

$9.75 per hour

January 1, 2016

$10.50 per hour

January 1, 2017

$11.50 per hour

January 1, 2018

Minimum wage will increase each year measured in the increase of the Consumer Price Index.

The ordinance also requires employers to provide up to five days of paid sick leave. If enacted, the sick leave requirement will begin in April 1, 2015 and provides employees with one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Leave must be carried over from year to year, but employers may cap the use of the sick leave to 40 hours of paid leave within a benefit year. The ordinance also provides that:

–          For employees that are not covered by the overtime requirements of California law, it will be presumed that they work 40 hours a week. If an employee works less than 40 hours they will only accrue sick leave based on their actual hours worked.

–          Employers may set a reasonable minimum increment for use of sick leave, but this minimum may not exceed two hours.

–          If an employee separates employment, but returns to work within six months, all previously unused sick leave will be reinstated to the employee. 

–          If an employee uses sick leave for more than three consecutive work days, the employer may require “reasonable” documentation from a licensed heath care provider justifying the leave. 

Currently the ordinance is before San Diego’s Mayor, Kevin Faulconer, who has stated he will veto the measure. However, the ordinance was passed by a super-majority that can override the Mayor’s veto, possibly forcing the issue to a referendum. If this occurs, the City Council will have the option to either rescind the legislation, or submit the matter to the voters of San Diego.

 

Here is a list of five rights provided to employees under the California Labor Code that the employee may not waive by agreement with an employer.

1. Minimum wage
Labor Code Section 1194 provides a private right of action to enforce violations of minimum wage and overtime laws. That statute clearly voids any agreement between an employer and employee to work for less than minimum wage or not to receive overtime.

2. Overtime
In Gentry v. Superior Court, the Supreme Court explained:

[Labor Code] Section 510 provides that nonexempt employees will be paid one and one-half their wages for hours worked in excess of eight per day and 40 per week and twice their wages for work in excess of 12 hours a day or eight hours on the seventh day of work. Section 1194 provides a private right of action to enforce violations of minimum wage and overtime laws.
…
By its terms, the rights to the legal minimum wage and legal overtime compensation conferred by the statute are unwaivable. “Labor Code section 1194 confirms ‘a clear public policy . . . that is specifically directed at the enforcement of California’s minimum wage and overtime laws for the benefit of workers.’"

3. Expense reimbursement
Labor Code section 2802 requires employers to reimburse its employees for “necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee” while performing his or her job duties. Labor Code section 2804, clearly provides that an employee cannot waive this right to be reimbursed for or liable for the cost of doing business. Section 2804 provides, “Any contract or agreement, express or implied, made by any employee to waive the benefits of this article or any part thereof, is null and void….”

4. Right to participate in PAGA representative actions
The California Supreme Court recently clarified that employees may not waive their right to bring a representative action under the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) (even though the Court held that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are enforceable). The Court held in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation that, “we conclude that an arbitration agreement requiring an employee as a condition of employment to give up the right to bring representative PAGA actions in any forum is contrary to public policy.”

5. Right to receive undisputed wages
Under Labor Code section 206.5 employers and employees may not enter into agreements that waive the employee’s right to receive wages that are undisputed. Labor Code section 206.5 also provides that an employer may not require “as a condition of being paid, to execute a statement of the hours he or she worked during a pay period which the employer knows to be false.”

1. Classifying all employees as independent contractors
To qualify as an independent contractor, the employer has the burden of proof to establish that the worker is actually an independent contractor and not an employee. I’ve discussed the parameter of this “economic realities” test here.  In addition to owing unpaid minimum wages and potential unpaid overtime, the employer also faces steep penalties for misclassifying independent contractors.

2. Treating all employees as exempt employees and not paying overtime.
An employee cannot agree to work without being paid overtime unless they qualify as an exempt employee. To qualify as an exempt employee, generally, the employee must perform certain duties, and must be paid a certain threshold in wages (usually at least two times the equivalent pay of minimum wage based on a 40 hour week).

3. Not having a handbook and written policies.
Even if startup companies have no money, the Labor Code still applies. They still have to pay more than minimum wage, provide and record meal and rest breaks, issue wage notices to new employees, and otherwise comply with California law. A handbook, new hire packet, and standardized set of written policies is a good place to start.

4. Not providing clear offer letter with at-will provisions and clear understanding of who owns social media accounts and passwords.
Companies should providing a writing setting forth the employee’s compensation, stock option rights, at-will status, as well as who owns the rights to social media accounts and the passwords to access the accounts. Much better to have this set out early in order to avoid costly litigation and disruption in your business later.

5. Not having the right employment law counsel.
Startup owners should have a relationship with an attorney that actually practices California employment law. Have an agreement with them that for basic quick questions there will be little if no charge. I often tell my clients that if it takes a quick phone call to review a decision about an employment issue, there will be no charge. Of course this has to be within reason, as your lawyer sells his or her time to make a living.  So to make this easier on your lawyer, do the work before you call, and just double check that the decision you have made, or the letter you drafted is good-to-go. Otherwise, calling your lawyer and asking him to draft the letter will take him time (usually more time that the client could have done it in) and will increase the cost of legal services.

This Friday’s Five is coming out a little late in the day, but as they say, better late….  I’ve been fielding a lot of questions about final wage payment requirements.  So here are five rules every employer should know about providing final wages to employees:

  1. An employee who is discharged must be paid all of his or her wages, including accrued vacation, immediately at the time of termination.
  2. An employee who gives at least 72 hours prior notice of quitting, and quits on the day given in the notice, must be paid all earned wages, including accrued vacation, at the time of quitting.
  3. An employee who quits without giving 72 hours prior notice must be paid all wages, including accrued vacation, within 72 hours of quitting.
  4. An employee who quits without giving 72-hours’ notice can request their final wage payment be mailed to them. The date of mailing is considered the date of payment for purposes of the requirement to provide payment within 72 hours of the notice of quitting.
  5. Final wage payments for employees who are terminated (or laid off) must be made at the place of termination. For employees who quit without giving 72 hours’ notice and do not request their final wages be mailed to them, is at the office of the employer within the county in which the work was performed.

For any employer who willfully fails to pay any wages due a terminated employee subject the employer to waiting time penalties under Labor Code section 203. Waiting time penalties accrue at an amount equal to the employee’s daily rate of pay for each day the wages are not paid, up to a maximum of thirty calendar days.

Here is a short video regarding some items California employers should consider about the minimum wage increase taking effect July 1, 2014.

//www.youtube.com/embed/fvwcOiltDHw

 For more information about the minimum wage increase:

Five issues California employers should review before the minimum wage increases July 1, 2014