The DOL’s change in the federal overtime rules requiring a higher salary threshold ($47,476 paid annually) for employees to qualify as an exempt employee takes effect December 1, 2016. This Friday’s Five discusses five final checklist items California employers should consider when reclassifying from exempt employees to nonexempt employees.
1. The DOL rule changes are
This Friday’s Five is a bit of everything: news, new California employment laws, and reminders about October 1 deadlines for the City of San Diego:
1. House moves to delay DOL overtime rule implementation.
There is a great article by Lisa Jennings from Nation’s Restaurant News summarizing the House’s move to delay the overtime rule
This week’s Friday’s Five covers five misconceptions about California employment law that can land employers in a lot of hot water:
The topic for the uneducated (or out of state) employer does seem trivial. However, with the penalty owed to employees of one hour of pay for each
The DOL’s Final Rule was issued this week (see my previous article for the details), and we have had a few days to digest the new rules. Now employers need to start putting together a plan to ensure compliance with the federal rules, and take time to ensure they are also complying with
I cannot believe it is already Friday, and one week done in 2016. This Friday’s Five focuses on a few action items for employers can use to start a review of their employment policies for 2016.
1. Ensure the new hire packets contain all required information for employees.
If employers do not have a standard
To qualify as an exempt employee, an employee must be “primarily engaged in the duties that meet the test of the exemption” and “earns a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment.” Labor Code section 515. This forms the two part test the employees must meet
You may recall from your college business law class of the “American rule” regarding attorney’s 
fees: generally in the United States each side is responsible to their own attorney’s fees, and unlike other countries, the loser does not have to pay the other party’s attorney’s fees. Employers can basically ignore this general rule
You’ve set up a successful company and begin hiring employees. To be a successful operator in California, a company’s management needs to be familiar with the critical legal concepts in order to successfully navigate California’s complex employment laws. You never wanted to go to law school, but time to hit the, ahem, books (or 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
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