As too many businesses are being shoved to the brink by mass litigation seeking millions over “minor” Labor Code violations, we continue to preach prevention. Sweat The Details - Friendly Workplace Practices Audits Before PAGA Comes Calling (January 24, 2025).

It is a rare class action employment case that doesn’t assert management’s sloppy timekeeping practices have caused workers to labor off the clock, outside the recorded time-in or time-out. Five minutes here, ten minutes there would seem no big deal for a single employee, but multiplied by, say, 100 or more on payroll over four or more years, with additional automatic damages, interest and penalties and that business is facing a potential terminating event. Paystub Purgatory – The PAGA Perils of Not Paying Attention (March 14, 2025).

An “old school” employer will commonly counter such a challenge by citing company “rounding” practices, setting the work start or end forward or back to the nearest tenth or even quarter hour. The protocol will still pass muster if “fair and neutral on its face” and used in a way that will not result, over a period of time, “in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.” See’s Candy Shops, Inc. v. Superior Court, 210 Cal. App. 4th 889 (2012).

Yet, the days of punching paper time cards and relying on the payroll person to consistently round in a fair and neutral manner are likely numbered. In 2021, the California Supreme Court called such practices into question “given that advances in technology have enabled employers to more easily and more precisely capture time worked by employees.” Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC 11 Cal.5th 58 (2021).

While we cannot endorse any particular digital system, there is a wealth of resources for management’s move to join this trend. See, e.g., The 9 Best Payroll and Timekeeping Software in 2025 (March 10, 2025).

Take-Aways:

As an important step to building a company’s best protections against crippling legal challenges, best practice is to bring any “traditional” time card system – handwritten or analog – into the 21^st Century mainstream and make sure you include all timekeeping functions that apply to your workforce.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin

See also:

• Workplace Roulette - Reducing the Odds of PAGA Purgatory (December 13, 2024)
• Munched for Lunch – No Break for Paying Employee’s Meal Times (September 20, 2024)
• Timekeeping Policy – Fourth Dimension Attention: It’s in the Cards (February 24, 2023)

Tim Bowles
April 18, 2025

With its recently published Equal Pay Act statistics for 2023, showing enduring gaps between genders and races, California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) continues its campaign for wage parity. See, Old Trends Die Hard: 2023 Equal Pay Results: Disparities Not Disappearing (April 11, 2025). Employers of 100 or more must report their 2024 numbers by May 14, 2025.

To motivate compliance, the CRD is targeting larger non-reporting companies for substantial penalties, including:

• a 2024 $15 million settlement with Snapchat to resolve equal pay, sexual harassment and other claims
• a 2023 near- $100,000 settlement against Cambrian Homecare over pay data reporting failures
• another 2023 settlement, for $54 million, against Activision Blizzard over allegations of equal pay and other civil rights violations against women
• a 2023 $100 million settlement with Riot Games on similar claims; and
• what the agency termed “a set of first-of-a-kind stipulated judgments against Chase Bank and Michaels to ensure the companies’ compliance with California’s pay data reporting laws.”

As CRD Director Kevin Kish put it: “Every year, hard-working Californians lose out on billions of dollars because of the wage gap. Employers can help us fight back. Report your pay data, take a look at employee wages, and take steps to ensure everyone gets equal pay for equal work.”

Take-Aways:

With only limited exceptions, California employers of any size must pay equally between the sexes and races. Via the state’s online portal, those with 100-plus workers have until May 14, 2025 to submit their equal pay data reports for 2024.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Payroll Data Reporting: May 8, 2024 Deadline for Companies with 100+ on Payroll (March 15, 2024)
• Employer’s Mandatory Show & Tell: New State Guidance on Pay Rate Transparency (January 13, 2023)
• For the Record: Sound Management Practices for Personnel Documentation (August 14, 2020)

Helena Kobrin
April 17, 2025

New hires usually spend their first day reviewing policies, signing essential personnel and payroll paperwork, and undergoing initial training.

For efficiency’s sake, employers might be tempted to relay those onboarding materials prior to the actual start date. It’s best to avoid doing so because an employer must compensate its employees for all hours worked on the employer’s behalf, whether on or off company premises.

California wage orders generally define “hours worked” as time during which an employee is subject to the employer’s control, including all the time the employee is “suffered or permitted to work,” whether required to do so or not.

Take-Aways:

Ensure all employees are compensated for any and all “hours worked.” Do not provide new hires (hourly or salaried) with new hire paperwork or other orientation materials, including the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification before the actual start date.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Time to Eat – Meal Break Scheduling Requirements (April 4, 2025)
• Hiring Authorized Workers - I-9 Forms Best Practices (July 5, 2024)

Cindy Bamforth
April 11, 2025

California’s Civil Rights Department recently released Equal Pay Act statistics for 2023, mandatory reporting data from employers of 100 or more covering 7.9 million workers.

Comparing workers of individual races and ethnicities, the report showed:

• The lowest pay range of $32,329 annually and under was most likely to include 41% of Black, 41% of Latino, 39% of Native American, 25% of Caucasian workers, and less than 20% of Asian workers.
• Highest earners, $144,560 or more, reflected 59% Caucasian, 4% Latino, and 10% Black workers.

On gender:

• Male senior managers or executives outnumbered women roughly two-to-one;
• While there were fewer women in the data (47%), they comprised 54% of those in the lowest pay range, earning $32,239 or less.
• Of the reported non-binary workers, less than 10% were in the highest pay range, $144,560-plus.

Business, Consumer Services and Housing Secretary Tomiquia Moss stated: “While California continues to have one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the nation, we can’t rest until we make much more progress. These numbers show where employers can focus efforts to bridge those gaps to provide opportunity and success for all Californians, and to make the phrase equal pay for equal work a reality.”

Equal pay does not mean an employer has to pay everyone performing substantially similar work the same amount. Employers may take into account seniority; merit; measured production; and/or other relevant factors, not gender, race, or ethnicity.

Equal pay reports for 2025 are due on May 14.

Take-Aways:

Employers need to ensure they pay men and women and people of different races and ethnicities the same pay for the same work, with disparities based only on permitted performance and other bona fide criteria.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Payroll Data Reporting: May 8, 2024 Deadline for Companies with 100+ on Payroll (March 15, 2024)
• Employer’s Mandatory Show & Tell: New State Guidance on Pay Rate Transparency (January 13, 2023)
• For the Record: Sound Management Practices for Personnel Documentation (August 14, 2020)

Helena Kobrin
April 11, 2025

California employers must generally provide a timely 30-minute unpaid meal period for a shift exceeding five hours. A meal period is considered timely if it starts on or before the end of the employee’s fifth hour of work. DLSE Meal Periods FAQs.

As a precaution, employees should clock out no later than 4 hours and 59 minutes into their shifts. For example, if an employee begins work at 8:00 a.m. and works an eight-hour shift, the employee’s meal break should start on or before 12:59 p.m.:

8:00 – 9:00 am (First Hour)
9:00 – 10:00 am (Second Hour)
10:00 – 11:00 am (Third Hour)
11:00 – 12:00 pm (Fourth Hour)
12:00 – 1:00 pm (Fifth Hour)

When an employee works more than 10 hours, a second 30-minute meal period must be provided starting on or before the end of the employee’s tenth hour of work. For example, if an employee begins work at 8:00 a.m., then as a precaution the second meal period should start on or before 5:59 p.m. If, however, the employee took the first 30-minute unpaid meal period, then the second meal period should start until on or before 6:29 p.m. See Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004.

Generally, with mutual consent, which should always be in writing, employees who work more than five but no more than six hours may waive their meal period, and employees who work more than 10 but no more than 12 hours may waive the second meal period -- only if the first meal period was not waived.

If the employer fails to provide the required meal period(s) on time, the employee must be paid one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of compensation (meal period premium pay) for each workday that the meal period(s) is not provided. DLSE Meal Period FAQ No. 4; Labor Code 226.7.

Take-Aways:

Seemingly small technical errors repeated company-wide can add up to exorbitant potential class action and/or PAGA liability. Require employees to take meal breaks earlier in the shift rather than down to the wire. Ideally, create a schedule so each employee knows when they’re supposed to start their meal break(s). Implement and regularly review a comprehensive, clearly written handbook with an updated California-compliant work schedules and breaks policy. Have a competent attorney conduct a confidential wage audit by reviewing a sampling of your employees’ timecards and paystubs to ensure proper meal break compliance.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• $5.5M To Settle Wage Theft Claim - Elderly Care Provider Fought Underpayment Citations for Five Years (January 5, 2024)
• PAGA Monster Grows More Legs – Best Protection Against Potentially Devastating Group Labor Claim is …Prevention (February 2, 2024)
• Please: Document Workplace Meal Breaks - Require Employees to Clock Out and Back In on Their Meals (June 4, 2021)

Cindy Bamforth
April 4, 2025

“Since taking office, President Donald Trump has introduced sweeping changes to immigration enforcement through a series of executive orders aimed at expanding both the legal authorities used to enforce immigration laws and the infrastructure needed to accomplish deportations … [The president’s] Border Czar, Tom Homan, has advocated for workplace enforcement that targets unauthorized workers and the businesses that hire them. Employers should be prepared for increased I-9 audits and ICE enforcement actions.” What the New Administration’s Increased Immigration Enforcement Means for Employers, Duane Morris (February 25, 2025) (emphasis supplied).

By the I-9 process, federal law requires employers to verify the identity and work eligibility of new employees and to terminate any worker upon discovery of unauthorized immigration status. Violators are subject to civil fines and potential criminal prosecution. See, e.g., Salas v. Sierra Chemical Co., 59 Cal.4th 407 (2014).

On the other hand, in United States v. California, 921 F.3d 865 (2019), the federal Ninth Circuit confirmed California employers have specific obligations to their workers if faced with immigration officials seeking to remove a suspected illegal migrant from the premises. Under this state’s Immigrant Worker Protection Act (“AB 450”), short of a judicial warrant, company management is prohibited from allowing immigration agents to enter nonpublic workplace areas or to access employee records. Employers also must notify workers within 72 hours of receiving immigration agency notice of an impending I-9 audit as well as provide a copy of the agency’s audit results to any employee identified as potentially out of status.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied the prior Trump administration’s request to review that decision, leaving AB 450 in place.

Take-Aways:

California employers must comply with federal and state laws regarding immigration enforcement actions in the workplace. Best practices include appointment of a management liaison for ICE, able to distinguish an I-9 audit request from a workplace raid and to properly navigate both. Audits usually come on a formal notice of inspection, requiring employer response within three days unless extended by agreement. Raids are disruptive law enforcement activities requiring judicial warrant for any immediate inspection of premises or records and possible detentions.

For more detailed guidance, see Trump’s Immigration Crackdown: Key Policies & Impact on Businesses, WoodsRogers (February 4, 2025); and Trump Takes Swift Immigration Action: What Employers Need to Know, FisherPhillips (January 25, 2025).

See also:

• Stay in Your Lane, Driver’s License Discrimination (December 5, 2024)
• Hiring Authorized Workers I-9 Forms Best Practices (July 5, 2024)
• California Labor Laws 2015 Unfair Immigration-Related Practices - California Extends Protections for Whistleblowing Employees (December 31, 2014)

Tim Bowles
March 28, 2025

Under newly enacted Labor Code section 181, the California Labor Commissioner (LC) has cited Amity In-Home Care (Amity) $2.3 million for misclassifying caregivers as independent contractors.

On investigation, the LC also discovered Amity had no workers compensation insurance and issued a stop order and $100/worker penalty assessment. The stop order closed the company until it acquired the coverage, but it had to continue paying the workers.

Citations against Amity include: willful worker misclassification penalties ($550,000); unpaid minimum wages ($422,033), plus liquidated damages ($422,033); unpaid overtime ($424,809); rest and meal premiums ($165,162); no workers’ compensation insurance ($81,673); pay stub penalties ($27,400); waiting time penalties for late final pay ($108,094); and other civil penalties ($18,950).

Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower commented: “Misclassifying workers is not a simple paperwork error. It is a deliberate violation of the law that denies employees earned wages, protections, and benefits they are legally owed and entitled to. My office is committed to holding employers accountable and ensuring all workers, especially caregivers, receive the pay they deserve.”

Take-Aways:

An employer can be tempted to hire people as independent contractors to save money or at the worker’s request. However, qualification as an independent contractor is a matter of law, not choice. Managers should consult a qualified attorney before they classify an incoming worker as an independent contractor.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Department of Labor $5.6 Million Judgment for Drivers Miscast as Independent Contractors (February 3, 2023)
• Construction Company Sued for $6,300,338 – Alleged Misclassification of Independent Contractors (August 18, 2017)

Helena Kobrin
March 21, 2025

We have many wonderful clients who over decades have built thriving businesses from scratch. There is joy in what they do, good managers working insane hours, with many trusted, well-paid employees who have hung-in for years, through good times and otherwise.

Yet, well more than once, we have seen such life work threatened with destruction by “little” mistakes on routine workplace practices that can pose millions in penalties under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) (2004).

PAGA is the pinnacle (so far) of this state’s ever-growing mass of workplace regulations. The law deputizes private-practice lawyers to sue and collect Labor Code penalties ranging from $100 to $10,000 per employee and per occurrence on at least 50 code sections. Liability generally stems from overlooked technical details, not intentional violations.

For instance, California law requires up to 16 data points on every pay stub (earnings statement). Even one inadvertent omission or inaccurate entry – repeated across the boards – can pose sky-high PAGA penalties.

The sample above is case in point. For that company’s hourly workers, the Labor Code required nine specific listings on the stub, including:

(1) Gross wages earned;

(2) Total hours worked;

(3) All deductions, including taxes, disability insurance, and health and welfare payments;

(4) Net wages earned;

(5) Inclusive dates of the pay period;

(6) Employee name plus last four digits only of social security number or an employee identification number;

(7) Name and address of the legal employing entity;

(8) All applicable hourly rates the employee earned during the pay period and the number of hours worked at each hourly rate; and

(9) Written notice of the amount of available paid sick leave (this last can be in a separate writing provided with the employee’s wage payment).

Their stub looks good, except for one “small” thing. The one-line (redacted) company name in the upper left has only a single line address below it, listing the employer’s city and zip code with four-digit extension, but not the street name and number. Result: potential violation of point 7. For an employer with 300 workers paid weekly and at the minimum $100 penalty per occurrence, this would create a possible $2,322,000 PAGA assessment.

There is no escape if a payroll company prepares the stubs. Almost any vendor’s service agreement places liability for non-compliance on employer-subscriber. See, Payday Mayday, Read the Fine Print: Payroll Companies Not Responsible for Employer Compliance (January 24, 2020)

Take-Aways:

On the premise that sooner or later every driver gets a speeding ticket, PAGA’s stakes require periodic “friendly” internal audits to confirm or remedy workplace practices for full Labor Code compliance. Our firm is performing these reviews for clients on an accelerating pace. The cost of prevention over the possible devastation of a PAGA suit is a business-saving investment.

For more information on our help with such audits, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Workplace Roulette, Reducing the Odds of PAGA Purgatory (December 13, 2024);
• Employers Lose Food Fight; Break Premiums Ruled Wages, Must Be Reflected on Pay Stubs (June 3, 2022)
• California’s Itemized Pay Stub Requirements (March 17, 2016)

Tim Bowles
March 14, 2025

First the dream, hard work to follow.

On my first contact with young West Africans — July, 2005 in Ghana — with their passionate optimism despite overwhelming illiteracy borne of a brutal, very recent past, I had the notion that, just maybe, we might work together to make a difference.

First step: show up, a lot. Suddenly, it’s 20 years later, with so many returns to the region a blur and so many lifted by our persistence and good work, fueled through the crowd-funneled generosity of our many supporters.

And so, in the fading light on a recent Tuesday, I again exit the Robertsfield terminal into the arms of Mother Liberia. Yes, back again, that charcoal-flavored stabbing heat. Jay takes it from here, NGO standard-issue Land Cruiser, into town over highway paved in more places now, rough going in others, standard-issue Africa.  Yes, back again people, to chip away at a broken education system and replace its fragments with something meaningful.

Liberia’s education system is not just struggling; it is reeling from the devastation of 14 years of intermittent civil war (1989-2003) that shredded its infrastructure, decimated its teaching workforce, and left an entire generation without stable schooling. Over twenty years later, the scars remain: over half the population cannot read or write at basic levels, some 20,000 teachers to serve a youth population exceeding 1.5 million with a pedagogy that clings to rote memorization, borrowing material to recite it at exam, then handing it back, forgotten.

The 30 noble articles of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) mean nothing in a dwindling spiral of illiteracy.

We are devoted to training instructors in a better approach, L. Ron Hubbard’s Study Technology (“Study Tech”), education geared to ability and competent application.  Yet, such a powerful tool means little without things like a power grid that keeps the air conditioning going and students who start the workday already fed.  Here, those are luxuries, not givens.  And yet, every day, here are these Liberians, showing up and sticking through, with humility and humor.  The results? Priceless, for example:

“After completing the ‘Fundamentals of Learning’ and ‘Study Tools for Educators’ course, my career took an incredible turn. Armed with newfound skills in the fundamentals of learning — how to study for full understand and application — I have a fresh perspective on education.

“I am not only empowered personally but able to mentor my fellow youth, helping them to develop and even improve upon what I have learned. I am determined to play a significant role in rebuilding our nation. By advocating for improved teaching methods, we will create a more effective and inclusive education system that benefits everyone.”   FMG

There lies the real pay. And so, we show up.

See also: 

• breaking the fever: African Literacy and Ebola recovery(2016)
• African Literacy Campaign - 2025

Tim Bowles
March 7, 2025