As we reported last month, major changes in overtime and other wage and hour rules will take effect on January 1, 2000. Because you’ll likely need to revise your policies and procedures to be sure you’re in compliance, we’ve prepared a 10-point checklist you can use to get a head start.
The HR Management & Compliance Report: How To Comply with California Wage & Hour Law, explains everything you need to know to stay in compliance with the state’s complex and ever-changing rules, laws, and regulations in this area. Coverage on bonuses, meal and rest breaks, overtime, alternative workweeks, final paychecks, and more.
Daily Overtime Action Plan
Here’s what you can do right now:
- Update overtime policy. Modify your overtime policy to spell out that as of January 1, 2000, time and a half is earned after eight hours in a day, for the first eight hours on the seventh day of work in a workweek, and after 40 hours in a week. Double time is earned after 12 hours in a day or after eight hours on the seventh day of work in a workweek.
- Adjust work schedules. Make changes to ensure that employees won’t work unnecessary overtime after January 1, 2000.
- Revise timecards and timesheets. Update your forms to track overtime after eight hours. Also be sure to reprogram timekeeping systems.
- Implement make-up time policy. Make sure your policies cover when employees can make up lost work time without daily overtime pay. This includes the very important difference between make-up time and comp time. Make-up time is extra time worked by employees, at their request, to cover time they plan to take off or have already taken off. Overtime need not be paid for make-up time if an employee works over 8 but not more than 11 hours in a day. Comp time, on the other hand, is time off given in exchange for overtime which the employee worked at your request. Comp time off must be provided at overtime rates.
- Prepare a make-up time form.
- Update meal period policy. Add a new rule allowing employees to waive a second meal period after 10 hours, with your consent, as long as the total hours worked don’t exceed 12 and the first meal period was taken.
- Train supervisors and payroll staff. Ensure that they understand the basic rules as well as your policies. Managers should also be made aware that they can be personally liable for violations of the overtime law.
- Verify exempt salaries and set up a reminder system. The new law requires a $1,993.33 minimum monthly salary for exempt employees. This minimum is pegged to two times the California minimum wage, so it’s a good idea to set up a tickler to remind you to review exempt employees’ salaries when the state minimum wage goes up.
- Obtain consents for voluntary alternative workweeks. This applies if you do not have a formal alternative workweek schedule but have certain employees who, as of July 1, 1999, were working alternative schedules of no more than 10 hours a day. These employees should be informed that they can voluntarily continue working those schedules without daily overtime after January 1, 2000. But they must fill out a written request form.
- Implement a formal alternative workweek schedule. If you have a regular alternative workweek program in effect that was not adopted in a secret ballot by two-thirds of the workers in a work unit, you must hold an election by January 1, 2000, or begin paying daily overtime. Next month we’ll have a full report – including sample forms – on how to implement an alternative workweek schedule under the new law.