Bulletproof! Preventing Common Wage and Hour Claims

Define the Employee’s Status

The status of your employees should be clearly defined at the time of hire or lateral move. Are they part-time/full-time, exempt salary, non-exempt hourly, hourly plus commission, piecework, commission, or something else? This is key as it will dictate whether you track hours, provide benefits, track overtime, provide for meal periods and manage other variable pay issues.

Tracking Worked Hours

Common wage and hour claims often stem from improperly tracked hours. With any class other than exempt salary or 100% commission, you must track every hour worked and display those worked hours and corresponding pay on their pay stub. There are several obvious challenges with a failure to track worked hours including overtime, meal breaks, work off the clock and sick time/vacation time accrual.

Implement Electronic Timekeeping

If, or when you wind up in front a Labor Board judge or plaintiff’s attorney, they will pour through time records with a fine-tooth comb. Tracking hours on written sheets of paper is inaccurate and creates the potential for manual calculation errors and attorney scrutiny. Digital timekeeping is far more accurate and can be processed through physical timeclocks, PCs or mobile phones. It can also be backed up with GPS specific URL’s.

Enforce Meal and Rest Breaks

Meal and rest breaks always come up in wage and hour claims. You must ensure employees are allowed to take two 10 minute rest breaks in an 8 hour day and one 30 minute meal break. Their time must not be impeded or restricted in any way, and no work can be done while on break. Actual in and out times for meal breaks MUST be tracked through the timekeeping process. Rest breaks do not ned to be tracked, but clearly remind employees often to take those breaks.

Have Clear Sick and Vacation Policies

You must provide and document sick time in California, and display earned and taken hours on the employee’s wage statement. You cannot impede an employee from taking sick days or discipline an employee for taking sick time within the allotted 3 days provided by law.

Vacation, if you offer should be according to a policy that defines when an employee accrues, how much an employee accrues and how and when an employee can take vacation. You must pay out accrued hours upon termination.

Don’t Make Rash Employment Decisions

When it comes to taking employment actions against employees, don’t do so without thinking everything through. Get advice prior to speaking with an employee about difficult situations or taking actions that might affect their employment status. If there are unresolved issues, or previous complaints for wage and hour issues, you could wind up with a retaliation claim.

Bottom Line

Whenever the economy recedes or increases, it seems like employees that are bent on getting something for free come out of the woodwork. You have to prepare for the worst-case scenario…the employee who will go to any length to take you to the labor board or find an attorney to file a lawsuit. In most cases, you will end up paying out something, to somebody if it goes this far.

Its best to simply be bulletproof when it comes to wage and hour claims. We can help! Don’t hesitate to contact Infinium and schedule an HR review to help discover any weaknesses you might have.