California Courts: a Piece of Work?

If you are employing piece-rate employees who don’t get paid for downtime, California Courts have just given you a piece of their minds. 

In Gonzalez v. Downtown LA Motors, a group of car repair technicians who were paid on a piece-rate basis brought a class action to recover unpaid minimum wages for the time they spent waiting between repairs.  They claimed that because they had to remain near the shop during their shifts so that they would be available when cars arrived for repairs, they should be paid for that time. 

The employer argued it had paid enough because each technician’s total pay, on average, always met or exceeded the minimum wage. The employer would calculate the total hours each technician worked each pay period—including hours spent waiting for repair work or performing other tasks covered by the piece-rate—and then multiplied this total by the minimum wage.  The employer would supplement the technician’s pay to cover any shortfall.

To read this blog post click here