Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: labor practices

As an employer, it is your legal obligation to keep accurate time records of the hours your employees work. Failure to do so may result in a finding against you, if the employees are claiming they worked more hours than you credit them for. If you anticipate your employees will be making a claim against you, it is in your best interest to consult with an attorney to assess the facts. You can't expect to receive legal advice based on a one sentence question.

Re: labor practices

If you don't have accurate time records you may be precluded from introducing evidence of time worked - in short the story your employees tell may be the only facts before the court. If other documentation, phone records, computer records, or other reliable method of recording time is available you may be able to refute some of the allegations.

Going forward, you MUST establish a accurate and verifiable work hours recording system.

Re: labor practices

Your position is to have and enforce proper timekeeping rules, timecards, audits, supervision, etc. If there is a dispute, you may be faced with a Labor Commission claim by one or more people, which could include demands for penalties for non-compliance. You need to consult asap with counsel to go over your system and their demands and claims. The facts will determine what you do with these claims, and what changes to make in your system to prevent further problems. Feel free to contact me for help. I represent and defend various small business in such matters, as well as employees making legitimate claims on employers who screw up.