Overtime Labor Law in California - Research Paper Example

Overtime labor law in California al affiliation: Overtime labor law in California Labor issues across the United s have been a subject of intense research over the past few years. Each state of the United States has labor laws to guide conduct in labor and employment sector. Some employers adhere to the stipulated labors laws of the states they operate in, while there are others that violate some of the laws, subjecting employees to poor remuneration for overtime work, or not paying them at all. Some of these employers also do not condone formation of labor organizations that can fight for the rights of their employees. There have been legal actions in parts of the United States against such rogue employers, some of whom have been made to pay millions of dollars in remuneration arrears. Some companies have been deregistered when authorities have determined that they flouted particular labor laws, almost touching on fundamental employee rights. This research will look at how the subject of overtime pay is handled in the state of California. Introduction In California, the recognized time that an employee should work is 8 hours a day or 40 hours in a week. Therefore, any time over 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week is considered as overtime. However, there are exceptional where an organization has set forward 10 hours of working with its employees, in such a case the overtime is 10hours. A case whereby the employers use the employees past 8 hours or 10 hours, the company should pay one and a half times the normal payment of the employee. Moreover, a case whereby an employee works for over twelve hours, the overtime payment must be twice the normal payment. Discussion The California labor law is good especially to the middle class earners. In off the clock work, the employers are obliged to pay the workers for all the hours that they were in their control. In this case, it is crucial that the employer is aware that the employee is working and the time has to be monitored so as to show the value of the time that the employee has worked. The overtime labor law also ensured that the company puts clear guidelines and the procedures to be followed while should there be any complaint by the employee over the payments. The complaint procedure is also a good security for the claims of off the clock work. The law provides proper procedures for calculating the overtime payments; therefore, the law ensures transparency in the payment. The employing company is obliged to pay one and one half times the salary or the wage earned by the employ during the normal time of work for the extra eight hours up to twelve hours in working day. On top of this there is also double payment for the work done over twelve hours in every working day (Balman, 2012). The California overtime pay laws are important because it protects the rights of the employees, and the law court construes the laws to offer maximum protection to the employees in the region. According to the law, it is the employer who has the difficult time in showcasing that the overtime payments of the employees are met with the due respect that they deserve. For that matter, therefore, the employee has an easier time in calculating the payments. Under the law, the employees’ rights is on the overtime payments are not pegged on the fact that the employee is salaried or not because in most cases the salaried employees are entitled to the overtime payments. On that note, even those employees who are not salaried by the employers can still enjoy the privileges of the overpayment. Another fact that makes me support the overtime payment is that the law does not take into account the type of the job so as to enable the employee get the overtime payment. Instead, it looks at the number of hours that an employee has worked. However, I don’t support the law in cases where it treats hours worked on holidays, Saturdays and Sundays as any other hours worked in the course of the week. The law does not expect an employer to give his employment at the normal hours during the holidays and weekends. Furthermore, the law does not have any say in a case whereby an employer decides to close the business during the holidays and weekend and provides his employees with off accompanying payments. The law treats such policies as adoption by the employer may be as a way to motivate its employees. Again there is no law that permits the organization to pay its employees for the work that he or she shall have done during the holidays, Saturdays and Sundays other than the ones excess to 8 hours. In such an event, there are chance that some of the employees can exploit the workers because they may and opportunities to use holidays and weekends instead of the normal working hours. The policies in the law also encourage monotony in work because some of the employers can decide that their employees work all the days of the week without giving any off. Therefore, the employees cannot have time to break the monotony. The overtime pay obligated by government law is calculated on the foundation of an employees normal rate of payment. While the company is allowable to pay workers on an hourly, waged, commission, part-time work or any other root, the steady proportion is constantly calculated as an hourly rate. Normally, the hours spent in figuring the consistent rate may not go beyond the permissible maximum, which mostly is eight (8) hours every day or forty (40) hours every week. If the set forward regular labor week does not exceed the authorized maximum, that figure needs to be used. For instance, a case where an employee usually works 20 to 28 hours per week and there is an approved work week of 23 hours, the 23 hour number is used to control the steady rate of pay. The other method of development and figuring overtime does not disturb the regular rate of pay that could be calculated on the root of 40 hours a week. To regulate the steady rate for salaried workers, the weekly payment is first resolute by taking the monthly payment and multiplying it by twelve (12) months and then distributing it by fifty-two (52) weeks. The weekly payment is then divided by the amount of legal maximum consistent hours worked to regulate the regular hourly degree. The remuneration of overtime for all the excess to eight per day or forty hours in a week is applicable to employees who work in sectors such as: Personnel Service firm, the preserving industries, Laundry and dry cleaning industry among others (Premier California Overtime Law Lawyers, 2015). Employees whose occupations require long moves are being disadvantaged under the present regulation. There is a part in Tribune Business News concerning the result of the alteration of overtime rule in the year 1998 when California altered a rule that had lasted for a decade that needed every day pay within eight hours of labor. Earlier to the change, the individual acknowledged 16-hour changes that sometimes were applicable in the companies. The overtime cash computed for the long hours. The workers had a special plan with the companies to operate three 12-hour shifts per week minus overtime pay; they got twofold for anything above those 12 hours. Under the new state rules, the companies do not need required paying them overtime except workers work more than 40 hours in a week. That follows the workers may be under two 12-hour changes in addition to a 16-hour one, and also two 16-hour shifts, and still is not given an overtime (Roger & Gaylord, 2010). The overtime rule in California gives room for flexibility especially due to the establishment of the new law unlike that of 8 hours excess. Furthermore, in the new regulation, the employers can give their employees time to go and see the families and even seek the medication, something that was not in the previous regulation. The overtime law in California has acted as a motivation factor to the employees thus helping the country to boost the economy. Workers take up their duties knowing very well that the law protects them, and they have to be paid. In such a case, even the workers who are lowly paid can increase the level of their income because they know that the payment will be equal to the number of hours that they shall have worked. Mon the other hand the idea of the overtime payment may not be so good because most of the employees can use the opportunity to exploit the workers. The workload done within the extra time could not be equal to the remuneration that the employee may get out of the work. At the same time, the policy of overtime payment can make some of the workers to toil themselves with the work at the expense of their leisure that will not be a true realization of the per capita income. Overtime policy can also lead to laziness by the worker especially during the normal working time where they are paid normally while when it comes to overtime they exploit all their energies (Levinson, 2011). With California overtime laws, workers that are not paid the expected salary and wages are eligible to one and a half fold their steady rate of pay for all time toiled in on top of eight hours in a labor or 40 hours in a workweek. In California, companies also must pay all non-exempt hourly workers twice over their steady payments for all hours toiled on top of 12 hours in a particular workday or extra than 8 hours on the seventh successive day of a particular workweek. Actively salaries can compute to a lot of cash for workers. Previous wage and hour problems in California have caused in million-dollar payments in favor of workers. Therefore, whether or not a worker gunners a real salary is a very significant question. To understand whether you net a salary, it is upon the worker to decide whether to work or less hours or not: If he labors for not more 40 hours in a workweek, he still gets salary the same amount of money per week. For that reason, the employee should address the question as to whether the salary is the same when he works for an extra hour or not. In a case whereby the employee knows that he worked for extra hours, the payment should be reflected in the pay slip (Guerin, 2015). Through the overtime payment law, it is possible for an employee to work for extra time and to different employers. He may decide that to one of the employers, he works for eight hours and the other for the hours that they will have agreed upon. Another interesting part of the overtime regulation is that an employee is not obliged to work for the extra hour. Instead, one may decide that he works in other companies where he can get better remuneration. As much as the overtime pay is beneficial to the employees, it is also beneficial to the employer because of the higher productivity that would be yielded as a result. The workers can work for extra time so as to ensure that all the work that was started in the day is properly executed. The overtime work policy in California ensures that there is an equitable distribution of the resources among its citizens. For that case, therefore, there are those who are exempted from getting the overtime pay. The following are some of the employees who are exempted from getting the overtime pay. To begin with, there is executive exemption whereby those workers who spend the better part of their time in the work managing the business of the organization or various departments in the organization. It is apparent that this kind of persons are well paid and also they have highly exploited such that by the time they leave the work they are exhausted. However, the government of California wants to ensure that these managers are fully engaged in the work so as to ensure that domestic business is not at a stake (Zaller, 2014). Another category that is exempted from involving in overtime work is the administrators. In most cases, they spend a lot of time assisting the entrepreneurs in executing their duties. Therefore, the post is so significant and for that matter, therefore, there may not have a lot of time to spare in doing other duties at their own extra time. There is also the computer software professional who earns over $41 per hour. Software designing and managing requires that one gives it full concentration and being that they are already earning a lot of money. The overtime pay law gives a well-defined policy on how to calculate the overtime wages. In California, every hour that one work on over forty hours a week access to eight hours a week, the employee is given one and half time his normal salary. Such a way of calculation is so important because an employee can be in a position to claim for the overtime payments for the work that she or she did several years back. Moreover with the policy, an employer cannot get lost with the employees money unlike if the guidelines were not implemented. I will give a scenario showcasing how the overtime wages can be calculated (Hines, 2012). A case whereby an employee earns $500 every week as a salary, such an employee’s overtime payment is added by dividing $400 by 40. Therefore the overtime payment will be $10 per hour thus for each hour he shall have worked over the normal hour he will compute $10 (David, Ralph & Portman, 2015). Conclusion In conclusion, overtime pay law in California is very essential to the employees, a fact that I have clearly indicated in my argument by highlighting more pros than the cons. In all the cases of eight- work day or forty- hour work in the week, there are qualities that are attractive to different groups that embrace them. While part-time workers errand the overtime they obtain by being at work over eight hours per day, the micro business organization chooses the reduced payroll expenditure with the forty-hour workweek. Nonetheless, the part-time worker also enjoyed the advantage of flexibility permissible in the forty-hour workweek.. References Amanda, A. (2013). Starbucks to Pay Workers $3m Class Action Settlement Over Missed Call Breaks. Top Class Actions (Top Class Actions.) Balman, D. (2012). 10 Tricks Employers Use to Cheat Workers Out Of Overtime. Retrieved May 1, 2015 from http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/07/11/10-tricks-employers-use-to-cheat- workers-out-of-overtime/ David B. Ralph W. & Portman J. (2015). Property Managers pp. 112. California Landlords Lawbook, The: Rights & Responsibilities. U.S.A. Donahue, B. (2013). Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton Pay $2 Million to End Class Action. Portfolio Media. Law360. Garrido, E. (2014). California Governor to Sign Mandatory Sick Leave. Reuters. Guerin, L. 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