In California, there are laws employers are expected to follow when dealing with their employees. One that employees should be full up to date about is overtime pay. While they might be paid overtime and think that their employer is being aboveboard about ensuring that they get what they are entitled to, there could be policies in effect that cost them money. Understanding how employers do this is key just as it is imperative to know the fundamental rules of overtime pay.
California Supreme Court will hear case centered on “time-rounding”
According to California law, non-exempt employees should get overtime when they work beyond 40 hours in a week. They should get 1.5 times their regular hourly pay per extra hour worked beyond eight hours per day. If they work more than 12 hours, they should get double their regular rate of pay.
“Time-rounding” could inhibit employees getting their full amount. This happens when the employer rounds off the hours an employee worked to a certain time. The decision to do this could deprive workers of pay as they are not given credit for the duration that was rounded off.
The California Supreme Court is set to hear a class-action lawsuit against Home Depot claiming its policy of rounding off workers’ hours to the nearest quarter-hour violated their rights and cost them regular pay and overtime pay.
This would impact workers across the nation as Home Depot has over 2,300 locations. There is a belief that the court is likely to rule in favor of the plaintiffs given the available technology to get an accurate reading of precisely when the worker clocked in and out, making rounding off unnecessary.
Time-rounding has been viewed in the past as a fair practice when it did not deprive workers of pay. In this case, the plaintiff says the rounding policy took away nearly eight hours of pay over more than four years. This claim could have a profound impact on Home Depot employees and other workers whose employer uses this tactic to calculate hours worked.
Workers might need to fight for their full overtime pay
While many workers are aware of their right to be paid overtime, they might not know that their employer utilizes certain tactics that could reduce what they get and be in violation of the law. As this case moves forward and the decision by the California Supreme Court is made, it could affect people who worked under this type of policy
For this or any other issue with overtime, employees should consider their options and have advice from professionals who are accomplished in this specific area of the law, have more than 15 years’ experience and are interested in protecting hard working people who are vulnerable to exploitation. This can be essential when trying to get unpaid overtime.