Employers based outside of California can suffer knockout blows if they enter the ring as employers in California and operate under the mistaken assumption that adherence to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is the same as complying with the California Labor Code and Wage Orders. Below are the main ways (but certainly not the only ways) employers are “caught cold” because they do not receive or apply California wage-and-hour training and learn the hard way that the plaintiffs’ bar will not pull any punches.

1. Minimum Wage – The federal minimum wage is $7.25, and it has not changed since 2009. California’s state minimum wage and its regular increases are well publicized. Currently, the state minimum wage is $15 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees. But employers are often unaware that many California cities and counties have their own minimum wage laws, and of those, some have separate rates for certain types of workers such as hotel workers. Also, indexed rates apply to many of these laws. This means the minimum wage rates will increase based on the applicable Consumer Price Index, instead of on a set schedule.
2. Daily Overtime and Double Time – Just as under the FLSA, California employers must pay an overtime premium of time-and-a-half the regular rate to employees who work more than 40 hours per week. However, California also requires employers to pay an overtime premium of time-and-a-half to employees who work more than 8 hours per day, and pay twice the...

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