When Was Your Last Wage and Hour Audit? New Laws for Employers!

By Giuliana Gabriel , VP of Human Resources

When was your last wage and hour audit? When was the last time your supervisors attended wage and hour training? Are your wage and hour policies up to date? These are questions California employers should now be asking based on two new laws that went into effect earlier this year!

What are the New Wage and Hour Laws?

On July 1, 2024, Assembly Bill 2288 and Senate Bill 92 were signed into law, significantly reforming California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). PAGA is a complex law, but in short, it authorizes aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for Labor Code violations (e.g., wage and hour claims). As you can imagine, penalties can stack up quickly, and these lawsuits are some of the most expensive employers may face.

However, the good news is that the recent PAGA reform marks impactful changes to how wage and hour lawsuits will be litigated going forward. Importantly, there are now new opportunities for employers to reduce their penalties if hit with a PAGA lawsuit, by demonstrating they took reasonable steps to comply with wage and hour laws. The law defines reasonable steps to include:

• Conducting periodic payroll audits and taking action in response to audit results when out of compliance
• Disseminating lawful written policies
• Training supervisors on applicable Labor Code and wage order compliance
• Taking appropriate corrective action for supervisors who are not following your policies

CEA has Your Solution!

If it has been a while since your last wage and hour audit (or maybe you have never conducted one) CEA offers employers a comprehensive Wage and Hour Audit Package to quickly get in compliance. How does it work? Join our California subject matter experts on November 14?for a 90-minute?interactive, virtual wage and hour training. As part of the package, registrants will also receive:

• A comprehensive Audit Checklist for Human Resources/management (covers exempt classification issues, non-exempt employee pay, piece rates, commissions, reporting time pay, split shifts, overtime and regular rate of pay, meals and rest breaks, recordkeeping and more!)
• Supervisor Steps to Compliance (Reference Sheet) for managing non-exempt employees
• Plus a recorded Wage-and-Hour Training for Supervisors, licensed for 90 days upon receipt

Both CEA members and non-members can register here. If you are a CEA member, make sure to login to our website for special member pricing. We look forward to seeing you there!