Thursday, January 10, 2019

Doing Business in LA? Living Wage Ordinance Updated. Any employer working with the city of Los Angeles should be aware of recent amendments to the Los Angeles Living Wage Ordinance, which lays out annual cash wage increases, time off and health benefits. More
 
Employer's Rounding Policy Complied with California Law AMN used a computer-based timekeeping system for all nonexempt employees, including plaintiffs/nurse recruiters. The timekeeping system rounded recruiters' punch times (both punch in and punch out) to the nearest 10-minute increment. To establish the proper hourly compensation, AMN converted each 10-minute increment to a decimal (to the nearest hundredth of a minute), totaled the number of hours (to the hundredth of a minute) and multiplied the total hours by the recruiter's hourly rate. AMN's expert labor economist testified that the rounding rule used by AMN was "neutral; in the long run, neither the employer nor the employee benefits from this policy." The trial court ruled that the rounding policy complied with California law, and the Court of Appeal affirmed. On similar grounds, the Court affirmed the trial court's summary adjudication in AMN's favor of plaintiffs' claims for unpaid meal and rest periods, wage statement violations, waiting time penalties, PAGA penalties, violation of the unfair competition law and for unreimbursed business expenses. Donohue v. AMN Servs., LLC, 2018 WL 6445360 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018)
 
California State Disability Insurance (SDI) Increases It's a new year, and California SDI benefits will be increasing. The SDI withholding rate continues to be 1.0% of wages. But, the taxable wage limit will increase from $114,967 to $118,371. For new SDI claims (whether for short-term disability benefits or paid family leave benefits) the maximum weekly benefit will increase from $1,216 to $1,252 a week. More