It is critical for California employers to properly calculate the regular rate of pay for an employee in order to pay the appropriate overtime pay and for premium pay for missed meal and rest breaks.  Here are five issues employers must be aware of regarding calculating an employee’s regular rate of pay:

1. Employers must

This week, in Vaquero v. Stoneledge Furniture LLC, a California appellate court issued a decision explaining employer’s obigations to separately compensate employees paid on a commission basis for rest breaks.

Plaintiffs worked as sales associates for Stoneledge Furniture, LLC, a retail furniture company doing business in California as Ashley Furniture HomeStores.  Stoneledge paid the

In my last post, I wrote about what steps employers should talk to comply with the new employment laws for 2015. This post discusses more generally what employers should audit on a yearly basis. And with the year coming to a close, now is a great time to review these five items:

1. Expense reimbursement

Perhaps one of the most misunderstood and improperly applied issues in California is how to treat commissioned sales people. Here are some of the most common mistakes I’ve encountered that can create substantial liability for employers.

Mistake: Treating all commissioned sales people as exempt employees (i.e. paying them a straight salary). 

Usually there are two exemptions