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California Employment Law – Taking it Higher
from:Did you know that thanks to California employment law and the backing of the current Governor, California will have the highest hourly rate of pay in the USA starting January 1, 2008? California employment law will then dictate that a worker's minimum wage will be $8.00 an hour, up from $7.50 an hour.
In addition, workers under California employment law provisions will also receive an increase in meal and lodging credits by the same percentage as the minimum wage increases. Be aware though, that under employers governed by California employment law, they can use the increased amounts for meals and lodging to count against minimum wage when they provide workers with meals/lodging. Unfortunately, if you are a federal employee and work outside California, your wage remains at $5.15/hour. That bites!
The hottest issue in California employment law is the payment of overtime. This is an area of California employment law that is pretty much akin to stepping on a landmine. Why? Because there are two classes of workers under California employment law – exempt and non-exempt – and failure to know the difference can cost business big bucks. If an employee entitled to overtime is treated as exempt, they could be eligible to a nice chunk of change for overtime pay once the dust settles.
Is there a difference when paying an exempt versus non-exempt worker? Under California employment law, a non-exempt worker is subject to all pay rules set up by the Industrial Welfare Commission – that includes overtime. In other words, a non-exempt employee must be paid all overtime hours worked.
If you are in doubt as to what category your workers fall into, check California employment law codes and regs for the answer. If it still isn't clear, then call the Department of Labor. In general to be an exempt employee it would depend on the level of responsibility they have, or their professional status. This doesn't have anything to do with their job title, or whether or not they get a salary or and hourly wage.
As a general rule of thumb, employees considered to be exempt under the law are licensed professionals. E.g. doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, and certified public accountants. Also exempt are managers who hire, fire, and train, and spend less than 50 percent of their time performing the same duties as their employees
The other two categories considered to be exempt are outside sales reps and those who create/formulate business policies for their organizations. Again, if you have any questions about exempt versus non-exempt employees and how to make sure they are paid according to the law, check with the nearest Department of Labor office. Save yourself some time and grief in the long run.
Fair Employment Practices Law News
Report on Religious Freedom Event
Just back from an event sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center on religious freedom. It was not exactly “fair and balanced” anymore than Fox News is, although Bill Galston from Brookings was given the microphone and, unsurprisingly, gave the most nuanced of this morning’s presentations.
Read more...Filings raise more questions on Warren's ethnic claims
Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has said that she was unaware that Harvard Law School had been promoting her purported Native American heritage until she read about it in a newspaper several weeks ago. But for at least six straight years during Warren's tenure, Harvard reported in federally mandated diversity statistics that it had a Native American woman at the law school. According to ...
Read more...Federal documents indicate Harvard repeatedly reported Elizabeth Warren as Native American
Filings raise more questions on Warren’s ethnic claims Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has said that she was unaware that Harvard Law School had been promoting her purported Native American heritage until she read about it in a newspaper several weeks ago. But for at least six straight years during Warren’s tenure, Harvard reported in federally mandated diversity statistics that it had a ...
Read more...PLANNING COMMISSIONER FINED FOR OMISSION
A county planning commissioner has been fined $200 by the state Fair Political Practices Commission after he failed to report his employment at a construction management firm on his state financial disclosure forms.
Read more...U-T: Planning Commissioner Fined Over Undisclosed Income
A county planning commissioner has been fined $200 by the state Fair Political Practices Commission after he failed to report his employment at a construction management firm on his state financial disclosure forms.
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