What it could Cost Your Company for a Minimum Wage Claim

Carl's Jr. Fined $1.45 million for Minimum Wage Violation

The City of Los Angeles has fined the restaurant chain Carl’s Jr.  $1.45 million in minimum wage violations and related penalties. That number covers more than three dozen workers at franchise outlets across the city over a six-month period, plus fines.

The issue stems from what Tennessee-based CKE Restaurant Holdings (the parent company of Carl’s Jr.) calls a “payroll error,” though they argue the amount of money missing from 37 employees’ paychecks is well below the number the city is fining them. Reps for Carl’s Jr. claim to have paid out $5,400 to give the workers their missing funds after correcting a six-month issue where workers were making $10.00 or $10.25, instead of the city-mandated minimum wage of $10.50.

More than $900,000 of the $1.45 million is purely penalties meant to go to the workers in question, while more than a half-million in further fines would be collected by the city directly.

As minimum wage in LA just went up again on July 1, 2017, employers should take a moment to review their pay rates and ensure they are following all local ordinances.

CITY	MINIMUM WAGE AS OF JULY 1 2017
California State	$10.50 (26 or more employees) $10.00 (25 or fewer)
Berkeley	$12.53
El Cerrito	$12.25
Emeryville	$14.82( 56 or more employees) $13.00 (55 or fewer)
Los Angeles	$12.00 (26 or more employees) $10.50 (25 or fewer)
Pasadena	$12.00
Mountain View	$10.30
Oakland	$12.25
Palo Alto	$11.00
Richmond	$12.30
San Diego	$11.50
San Jose	$10.30
Santa Clara	$11.00
San Francisco	$14.00
Santa Monica	$12.00 (26 or more employees) $10.50 (25 or fewer).
Sunnyvale	$13.00

Lauren Sims is the author and the Director of Human Resources Consulting for eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

California's One Day of Rest in Seven Law

Most non-exempt employees in California are entitled to one day of rest in seven, but there has been some confusion among employers in how that seven-day period should be measured.

On May 8, the California Supreme Court delivered some good news for employers: The day of rest must be given in a workweek, not on a rolling basis for any consecutive seven-day period.

This means that if an employer's workweek runs from Sunday to Saturday, it's not a problem for an employee to be scheduled to work every day from Wednesday to Wednesday— even though that's more than seven consecutive days of work.

The court ruling gives work-scheduling flexibility to employers by saying that employees must average no less than one day of rest for every seven days over the course of a calendar month.

The California Supreme Court also clarified that part-time employees are exempt from the day of rest requirements if they never work more than six hours in any day of the workweek.

Employers should:

• Review scheduling policies to ensure that they comply with the requirement to provide one day of rest in a seven-day workweek
• Designate the workweek. If an employer does not set a designated workweek, the law presumes a workweek of 12:01 a.m. Sunday to midnight Saturday.
• Ensure all part-time workers are provided a day of rest if they work more than six hours on any one day of the workweek
• Remember overtime and double-time pay requirements apply if an employee does work seven consecutive days in a workweek:
• Train supervisors that they’re not to encourage employees or pressure employees to take on extra shifts and work a seven-day workweek. Similarly, train supervisors not to retaliate against employees who don’t want to work on the seventh day.

Lauren Sims is the Director of Human Resources Consulting at eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

New CA Employer Responsibilities

Starting in July - Additional CA Employers Regulations

Required Posting of Leave for Domestic Violence Issues

Employers must now notify employees of their rights regarding domestic violence victims. Employers with 25 or more employees to discriminate against employees who take time off to:

• Seek medical attention for injuries caused by domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking,
• Obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, program, or rape crisis center as a result of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking,
• Obtain psychological counseling for domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or
• Participate in safety planning or other actions (including temporary or permanent relocation) to increase safety from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Employees taking time off must give the employer reasonable advance notice unless the advance notice is not feasible. If the employee takes an unscheduled absence, the employee remains protected by providing, within a reasonable time after the absence, a certification of the protected reason for leave. Employers must maintain the confidentiality of the reason.

The Labor Commissioner has developed a notice form which can be found here: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Victims_of_Domestic_Violence_Leave_Notice.pdf

Criminal Background Checks

The Fair Employment and Housing Council (FEHC) will begin enforcing new regulations related to the use of criminal background checks in employment decisions. Employers must justify their criminal background check policy and any adverse action related to the policy as job-related and consistent with business necessity.

The regulations identify two ways an employer could justify the policy: (1) show that a “bright-line” disqualification properly distinguishes those who do and do not pose an unacceptable level of risk; (2) individually assess the individual’s qualifications.

The employer must also give the applicant or employee a reasonable opportunity to show that the information on the background check is incorrect. If the individual provides evidence of factual inaccuracy, then the information cannot be considered in the employment decision.

Employers who have no-hire policies for individuals with criminal convictions are now at risk. Any such policy should be reviewed for compliance.

Transgender Rights

As of July 1, transgender employees must have equal access to restrooms and other facilities, including locker rooms, dressing rooms, and dormitories. Employers now must allow employees to use those facilities without regard to the employee’s assigned sex at birth. The regulation provides that employers may make reasonable, confidential inquiries of employees to ensure that facilities are safe and adequate for use.

Employers must now also honor an employee’s request to be identified by a preferred gender or name, The regulations also prohibit employers from enforcing appearance, grooming or dress standards inconsistent with an individual’s gender identity and gender expression, as well as requiring proof of an individual’s sex, gender, gender identity or gender expression.

Lauren Sims is the author and the eqHR Solutions Director of Human Resources.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHR Solutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.