Ezel / Labor Guidance / CA
CA Opinion Letter 2002.06.13-1 June 13, 2002 Active
Back to California guidance

Tardiness

Summary: A manufacturing employer's counsel described a proposed plan to refuse to let late-arriving employees clock in until the top of the next hour, so they'd be paid for less than eight hours. DLSE pointed out that plan would itself require the employee to return at the employer's request, which triggers reporting-time premium pay under IWC Order 1, and also leaves the employer short-staffed for that time. Instead, DLSE noted Labor Code section 2928 already permits deducting up to a half-hour's wage for an employee less than 30 minutes late, with the deduction limited to the proportionate wage actually lost. Employers dealing with tardiness should use the existing section 2928 deduction rather than a clock-in delay tactic.
About this page: The full text below is the official document from California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). Ezel adds the plain-English summary and tracks the document's status. The official source linked on this page is authoritative for any reliance.
View the official document

STATE OF CALIFORNIA
GRAY DAVIS, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
DIVISION OF LABOR STANDARDS ENFORCEMENT
Santa Rosa Legal Section
50 D Street, Suite 360
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
(707) 676-6788

H. THOMAS CADELL, Of Counsel

                                 June 13, 2002

Terryl B. O'Donnell, Esq.
7040 Avenida Encinas, 104-224
Carlsbad, CA 92009

      Re:        Tardiness

Dear Ms. O'Donnell:
Anne Stevason, Acting Chief Counsel of the Division, has asked
me to respond on behalf of the Division of Labor Standards
Enforcement to your letter of March 22, 2002.
In your letter you indicate that your client, a manufacturing
plant, has encountered some problems with employee tardiness. You
suggest that one plan considered by your client was to refuse to
allow the employees who arrive late to clock in until the next
hour. In that way, you conclude, the tardy employees would get
paid for less than eight hours on that day. Aside from the fact
that such a plan would require the employee to return at the
request of the employer and, consequently, require the payment of
reporting time premium (see IWC Order 1-2001, Section 5), it would
also deprive your client of needed personnel for the hour.
Actually, the California Labor Code has historically permitted
an employer to deduct a full half-hour of wages from the amount due
an employee who is less than one-half hour late. Labor Code § 2928:
"No deduction from the wages of an employee on account of
his coming late to work shall be made in excess of the
proportionate wage which would have been earned during
the time actually lost, but for a loss of time less than
thirty minutes, a half hour's wage may be deducted."
We hope this will help your client solve the problem.

Yours truly,

H. THOMAS CADELL, JR.
Attorney for the Labor Commissioner

c.c. Arthur Lujan, State Labor Commissioner
Tom Grogan, Chief Deputy Labor Commissioner
Anne Stevason, Acting Chief Counsel
Assistant Labor Commissioners
Regional Managers

Related guidance

Commissions and Bonuses CO · Interpretive Notice · January 23, 2026 Timing of Wage Payments, & Required Record-Keeping CO · Interpretive Notice · January 9, 2026 Deductions from, and Credits towards, Employee Pay CO · Interpretive Notice · July 15, 2025 Compliance Duties: Notify Workers of Their Rights; No Unlawful Waivers or Restrictions CO · Interpretive Notice · February 15, 2024