It’s no secret that wage and hour lawsuits are multiplying, and they often challenge an employer’s practices with respect to required meal and rest breaks. But even if you’ve taken steps to comply with Labor Code and Wage Order break rules, you might have forgotten to check up on breaks for one segment of your workforce: telecommuters.
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.
How can you ensure telecommuters who are nonexempt take required meal and rest breaks? The best practice is to require these employees to document and certify on their daily time sheets that they have taken these breaks. In addition, employers can consider monitoring computer and telephone traffic to ensure that telecommuters actually go “off line” when they’re supposed to be taking breaks—but this isn’t foolproof, and monitoring can raise privacy concerns that should be addressed through a separate computer policy.
Additional Resources:
Setting up a Telecommuting Program: A Toolkit for Employers