California’s labor law requires partial pay if employees are sent home early or work brief unscheduled shifts. This rule protects workers from unpredictable schedules and mandates fair compensation unless specific exemptions apply.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
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If you arrive at work in California but are sent home before completing half the shift, or if you perform a second shift that lasts less than two hours, you might be eligible for reporting time compensation under the ‘California Labor Law 2-hour minimum pay’ provision.
For the time you didn’t put in, your employer might be required to reimburse you. However, this “minimum shift rule” provision has some exceptions.
Reporting time compensation, sometimes referred to as “show-up pay,” may be due under the ‘California Labor Law 2-hour minimum pay’ if:
Legally, your employer must compensate you for at least half of the shift if it happens to you for:
A combination of reporting time payout and actual hours worked can satisfy this requirement to pay.
Example 1: Kevin comes to his workplace at his retail job (at 8 am). His usual shift is scheduled to run between 8 am & 5 pm, with a lunch break in between (12 to 1 pm). But because there is not much work, Kevin’s employer asks him to leave for home at 11 am. For the 3 hours during which he actually worked, Kevin has the right to reimbursement. He is also entitled to one hour for reporting time compensation, up to a maximum of four hours, to cover 50% of his shift.
Example 2: Kevin reports for the same shift the following day. However, his supervisor advises Kevin to go before he is checked in, since he has excess staff booked for the shift. According to the reporting time payment law, Kevin is entitled to a maximum of four hours of compensation (reporting time), which covers half of the shift.
The employee’s regular pay rate must be used for the payment. Accordingly, it must be no less than the minimum wage.
Keep in mind that your base pay and regular rate of pay are not the same. Your normal rate of pay includes commissions, bonuses, compensation, nondiscretionary, and other benefits, in contrast to your base salary.
The following are the objectives of the ‘California Labor Law 2-hour minimum pay’:
Additionally, you can be eligible for reporting time compensation if your company:
You have the right to two hours of compensation at your regular rate in certain circumstances. Even if you didn’t work the entire two hours following the second reporting, this is still the case. Your reporting time compensation is the difference between the number of hours you actually completed and the full two hours.
Example: Because business was poor, Kevin was told to leave his usual shift and return to his job at 6 p.m. However, as soon as the customer rush passes, Kevin’s supervisor orders him to return home at 7:00 p.m. Despite having only worked a single hour at the minimum hourly wage, Kevin is nevertheless entitled to two hours of compensation. The extra hour is paid as reporting time.
No, overtime compensation is not calculated using reporting time pay. Show-up payment is a fine imposed on businesses rather than payment for labor. Overtime rates are not computed using it.
Example: Kevin’s boss scheduled a lot of employees, so he sent him home before he could clock in. Kevin was entitled to four hours of show-up compensation as a result. Later that day, Kevin was summoned in by his supervisor to work, and he put in nine hours. Instead of five hours of overtime compensation, he is only eligible for one.
Indeed, there are specific situations in which California businesses are exempt from paying reporting time as per the ‘California Labor Law 2-hour minimum pay’. These are some situations like:
Example: An automobile has passed through the doorway when Kevin arrives at work. His supervisor orders him to leave for home. Kevin does not qualify for show-up pay.
Furthermore, you are only eligible for show-up compensation if your employer sends you home. You are not eligible for reporting time payments if you leave your job for personal reasons before the end of half the shift.
When you show up to begin a work shift, you are reporting to work. Your personal presence at the workplace is not necessary for this. You have reported to work if the boss asks you to present yourself differently, and you do as instructed.
Examples: An employee may report to work for a planned shift, for instance, if their employer requests that they:
The reporting time requirements of California’s labor laws are activated by any of these instances.
According to the ‘California Labor Law 2-hour minimum pay’ provision, reporting time pay is a compensation, even though it has no bearing on overtime compensation. This implies:
You should be eligible for reporting time payment if your employer has you attend a prearranged meeting on the day that you don’t typically work, but concludes early. This is especially true if the meeting lasts less than fifty percent of the anticipated time.
Therefore, you should receive two hours of time for reporting if the two-hour meeting ends up taking 59 minutes. However, you would only receive 61 minutes of your regular pay rate if the two-hour meeting ended up lasting 61 minutes.
Generally speaking, if you leave your job early on your own behalf because you’re sick (whether from COVID-19 or something else), you won’t be eligible to report for time compensation. However, you would most likely be eligible for reporting time compensation if your supervisor gave you the order to depart early.
You can submit a wage claim to the Department of Industrial Relations’ (DLSE) labor commissioner (California). You can sue for wages and hours if that doesn’t fix the problem.
These cases seek the assessment of interest & unpaid wages for the period in which they were not compensated. Regardless of whether the company intentionally withheld your wages or was merely unaware of the regulations, you are still entitled to recoup lost wages.
You have three years from the latest time you were not paid for reporting time to pursue these lawsuits. Your claim may be quickly dismissed if you don’t follow this rule of limitations.
Under the ‘California Labor Law 2-hour minimum pay’ regulation, many of these complaints develop into class actions. Other employees are most likely not getting paid if the company is not giving you the show-up payment to which you are legally entitled.
It should be noted that you have the option to submit a retaliation report to the Labor Commissioner or file a lawsuit if the company retaliates against you for requesting pay to which you are entitled, like by demoting or terminating you.
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