California Labor Guidance
Free plain-English summaries of opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices from California's labor agency, with the current status and the official source on every page.
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Overtime phase-in for sheepherders under AB 1066
An industry association asked the Labor Commissioner's Office how to calculate overtime for sheepherders, who are paid a special monthly minimum wage under Wage Order 14 rather than an hourly rate, no…
Which claims the Dynamex ABC independent-contractor test applies to
A legal-aid attorney asked whether the "ABC" test for independent-contractor status, adopted by the California Supreme Court in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, applies any time a busi…
Calculating paid sick leave pay for commissioned and exempt employees
An attorney asked how to calculate paid sick leave pay for an employee paid almost entirely by commission, and separately for an exempt employee who also receives an annual bonus. DLSE explains that a…
Quarterly bonus payout timing and forfeiture on termination
A winery asked whether its quarterly sales-and-membership bonus program could pay out once a quarter instead of every pay period, and whether an employee who leaves before the quarter ends could be de…
Front-loading paid sick leave hours for employees on longer shifts
An attorney asked whether an employer using the "no accrual, front-load" option for paid sick leave under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act must front-load three days at an employee's actua…
Domestic Worker Bill of Rights does not cover residential care facilities
A residential care facility caring for adults with disabilities asked whether California's 2014 Domestic Worker Bill of Rights applied to its business. DLSE explained the law expressly excludes "care …
On-duty meal periods for drivers of hazardous and flammable materials
A law firm asked the Labor Commissioner's Office for general guidance on when on-duty meal periods are lawful for drivers hauling hazardous and flammable materials, building on an earlier 2009 DLSE le…
Educational internship program (Year Up, Inc.) exempt from minimum wage
A law firm asked whether interns in Year Up, Inc.'s job-training program for underserved 18-24 year olds had to be paid as employees under California's minimum wage law. Applying the federal six-facto…
Deducting partial-day absences of exempt employees from leave balances
An employer asked whether it could deduct hours from an exempt employee's accrued vacation or sick leave bank for a series of specific partial-day absence scenarios. DLSE confirmed that while an exemp…
Reducing exempt employees' work schedule and salary to avoid layoffs
A law firm asked whether an employer could cut exempt employees' workweek from five days to four with a corresponding pay reduction, as a temporary alternative to layoffs during the 2009 recession. DL…
Meal periods for fuel carriers subject to federal safety regulations
A law firm asked whether drivers who transport hazardous fuel and must stay with or near their trucks under federal hazmat regulations can be given an "on-duty" paid meal period instead of an off-duty…
Alternative workweek schedule during summer months
A law firm asked whether an employer could adopt an alternative workweek schedule of four 9-hour days plus one 4-hour day only during summer months, reverting to a standard five 8-hour day schedule th…
Credit available against prevailing wages for apprenticeship training trust payments
A public works contractor asked whether it could credit its full $0.60/hour training trust contribution — more than the $0.45/hour specified in the prevailing wage determination — against its prevaili…
Wage deduction authorization for overpayments due to payroll practice
A law firm asked whether an employee's electronic timesheet reporting unpaid time off, submitted after a biweekly advance payment, counts as authorization to deduct the resulting overpayment from the …
Compensability of time spent obtaining a federally mandated TWIC port-security card
A union attorney asked whether Shell refinery workers required to obtain a federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) to access secure port areas must be paid for the time spent en…
Money Network Checks as a means of payment of wages
A law firm asked whether "Money Network Checks" — un-denominated checks that employees authorize and cash at designated ACE Cash Express or Wal-Mart locations, drawn on funds held in trust at a bank —…
Payroll/debit cards as a means of payment of wages
Two payroll-card providers asked whether their payroll debit card programs, which let employees access direct-deposited wages through a bank-issued card, comply with Labor Code sections 212 and 213 go…
Administrative exemption applicable to IT managers/supervisors — no determination, general guidance
A law firm asked whether three IT department supervisors (help desk, systems administration, and reporting) at a national equipment-rental company qualify for the administrative exemption from overtim…
Whether pre-employment state-mandated security officer training time is compensable
A trade association for licensed security guard companies asked whether members must pay applicants for the state-mandated classroom training (up to 40 hours) required to become a registered security …
Electronic delivery of itemized wage statements
An employer asked whether it could deliver legally required itemized wage statements electronically instead of on paper. DLSE concluded electronic wage statements satisfy Labor Code section 226(a)'s "…
Personal attendant definition under Wage Order 15: scope of duties
A home-care industry trade association asked DLSE to clarify what duties count toward the "personal attendant" exemption under Wage Order 15, which exempts qualifying home-care workers from most wage …
Tip pool policy: lawfulness of mandatory tip pooling and participation criteria
A casino asked whether its mandatory tip pool policy, requiring an employee who receives a tip to contribute 15% into a pool distributed to other employees in the service chain, complies with Labor Co…
Private right of action to enforce meal period pay under IWC orders and Labor Code section 226.7
An attorney asked whether employees have a private right of action to recover the extra hour of pay owed when an employer fails to provide a required meal or rest period under Labor Code section 226.7…
Determination of exempt or non-exempt status of officers and 'key administrative personnel' employed by labor unions
A union-side law firm asked DLSE to categorically declare that labor union officers and "key administrative personnel" (business agents, organizers, field representatives) are exempt from overtime. DL…
Whether undifferentiated PTO counts as sick leave for Kin Care and is subject to vacation vesting
A law firm asked whether an employer's undifferentiated paid-time-off (PTO) bank — which lets employees take days off for any reason without distinguishing vacation from sick time — counts as sick lea…
Post-termination forfeiture of sales commissions
An employer asked whether it could withhold quarterly sales commissions from employees who weren't currently employed at payout time. The DLSE responded that commissions on sales are wages earned upon…
Resident employees at 24-hour care facilities: sleep time and lodging charges
A residential care facility asked the DLSE whether "resident employees" who live on-site but aren't required to stay there must be paid for sleep time, and how much the facility may charge them for ro…
Travel time pay for an employee working alternating worksites
An employer asked whether an employee who alternates weeks between two work locations must be paid for the roughly 1.5-hour daily commute to the more distant site. The DLSE explained that an ordinary …
Child labor rules apply to minors filmed in reality television
A production company asked whether California's entertainment-industry child labor laws apply to minors appearing in an unscripted "reality" television show, given there's no script and the goal is to…
Wage deductions for property damage require gross negligence or willful misconduct
An employer asked whether it could deduct from employees' wages for vehicle "accidents," believing deductions for simple negligence were barred but deductions for gross negligence or willful misconduc…
Farm labor contractor licensing covers farm managers, packers, and custom harvesters
Growers asked the DLSE whether entities they hire under labels like "farm manager," "vineyard management company," or "custom harvester" must be licensed as farm labor contractors under Labor Code sec…
Tardiness wage deductions limited to Labor Code section 2928's narrow exception
An employer asked the DLSE to reconcile Labor Code section 2928, which allows deducting up to a half-hour's wage for tardiness of less than 30 minutes, with the general rule that employees must be pai…
"Blended rate" bonus for shortened shifts need not be folded into the regular rate
A hospital asked whether it could pay a "blended rate" bonus — extra pay calculated to make an employee whole when sent home early from a scheduled shift — without folding that bonus into the regular …
Waiting-time penalties and vacation payouts must include bonuses and commissions
An employer asked whether waiting-time penalties for late final pay, and payouts of unused vacation, should be based on base salary alone or total compensation including guaranteed bonuses. The DLSE c…
Changing a vacation plan's calculation method doesn't erase already-vested pay
An employer wanted to stop including a night-shift pay differential when calculating vacation pay going forward, and asked whether it owed employees a lump-sum "true-up" for vacation already accrued u…
The teacher exemption is limited to certificated or college-level teachers
A law firm asked whether California's professional exemption for "teachers" extends beyond those certified by the Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing or teaching at an accredited college,…
Pay tied to collecting patient bills isn't a valid exempt salary
A psychological treatment center paid its licensed psychologists and assistants a percentage of collections received from patients or insurers, often months after services were rendered, and asked whe…
Site surveillance technicians don't qualify as exempt professionals
An employer asked whether "site surveillance technicians," who monitor asbestos abatement work under a certification requiring only a high school diploma and six months' experience, qualify for the pr…
Wage order coverage for temp-agency workers placed with public employers
A staffing agency asked whether IWC wage orders apply to its employees while they're placed with city, county, or other public employers who use alternative workweek schedules the agency itself never …
Limousine drivers are not exempt from overtime as "taxicab drivers"
A limousine company argued its pre-arranged, dispatched drivers should be exempt from California overtime rules under either the taxicab-driver exemption or the exemption for drivers whose hours are f…
Payroll payment by cash-dispensing machine
A union attorney asked whether it was legal for an employer to pay "day laborers" through a leased cash-dispensing machine (CDM) that charged a $1 fee and paid out only in bills, rather than by a stan…
Hours worked: split shift
An attorney asked how long an unpaid break can last before it stops counting as a meal period and instead becomes a "split shift" requiring extra pay. DLSE explained that it has long treated any bona …
Commission payments: timing under Labor Code section 204
An employer of mortgage-loan sales staff, paid through biweekly draws plus monthly commissions whose rate depends on total monthly loan volume, asked whether this timing satisfies Labor Code section 2…
Meal periods: impact of SB 1208 on an existing collective bargaining agreement
An employer's counsel asked whether SB 1208's 2002 changes to Labor Code section 512 let unionized employers wait until their current collective bargaining agreement expires before adding a meal perio…
Wage requirements for camp counselors
An operator of educational overnight programs (including historic-ship stays and island camps) asked whether its counselors qualified for Labor Code section 1182.4's minimum-wage/overtime exemption fo…
On-duty meal periods
An employer association asked whether a fast-food restaurant could give a solo hourly shift manager an "on-duty" meal period, since the manager needed to stay available to answer questions during late…
Negative election to participate in 401(k) plans
A benefits attorney asked DLSE to reconsider its 1998 opinion that "negative election" 401(k) enrollment (automatically deducting a contribution unless the employee opts out) violates California law, …
Labor Code section 233: sick leave to attend to family
An HR consultant asked three questions about California's "kin care" law, Labor Code section 233: whether it covers public employers, whether a collective bargaining agreement addressing sick leave ca…
Employer: definition of employer
Two attorneys litigating a wage claim jointly asked the Labor Commissioner's hearing officer to clarify the legal basis for a prior award holding both a corporation and its individual officer jointly …
Overtime: commission pay plans
An employer of commissioned inside salespersons paid a base salary plus monthly commissions under Wage Order 2 asked about overtime obligations. DLSE explained that these employees don't qualify for t…
Commission calculations
A commissioned coffee salesperson asked about his employer's plan that debited 50% of any invoice unpaid after 90 days from his commission account, and that limited commissions at termination to those…
Tardiness
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…
Salesperson exemption (Orders 4 and 7)
An attorney argued that IWC Order 7's coverage of "commodities" sales didn't extend to insurance agents, and separately questioned whether an insurance agent's pay was really a "commission" as opposed…
Coverage of California wage laws
An attorney asked whether California wage and wage-payment laws apply to an employee under a written contract for 18-24 months of overseas work, depending on whether any work was performed in Californ…
Alternative workweek: reduction of pay not allowed
A dialysis-clinic worker wrote to DLSE's public info line after her hourly rate was cut twice as her employer moved her from an 8-hour training schedule to 10-hour and then 12-hour shifts, each time l…
Semimonthly pay periods for nonexempt salaried employees
An employer paid non-exempt salaried employees semimonthly and listed a flat 86.67 "averaged" hours per pay period on wage statements rather than the actual, varying hours worked. DLSE held this viola…
Disciplinary deductions from an exempt employee's salary
An attorney e-mailed DLSE's Info Web Site asking whether an employer may dock a full week's pay from an exempt employee for disciplinary reasons, or deduct a lesser amount such as one or two days' pay…
Exempt employee: pro rata salary deduction on a 4-day workweek
A trade association asked, on behalf of a member, how much to deduct from an exempt employee's leave bank if that employee had voluntarily arranged to work only 4 days (about 10 hours each) per week a…
No exempt-salary deduction for a full-day absence if the employer expects some duty
An employer group asked DLSE's Info Web Site whether an exempt employee who checks voicemail and e-mail for 10-15 minutes during an otherwise full-day vacation absence can still have that day's salary…
Exempt employee: salary reduction tied to reduced hours or a shortened workweek
An employer posed five detailed scenarios asking whether cutting an exempt employee's salary destroys the exemption, ranging from a companywide across-the-board pay cut to a scheme pairing a salary cu…
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These are official interpretive documents from California's labor agency: opinion letters answering questions from employers and workers, administrative policies, and interpretive notices. They show how the agency applies wage-and-hour and workplace law to real situations, but they are guidance, not statutes or court decisions, and the agency can supersede or withdraw them. Every page above shows the document's current status, when that status was last verified, and a link to the official source.