Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Is there a state law that effects when hours MUST be paid for an employee that is working a shift that spans two days. Meaning, if someone starts their shift on Thursday at 10 pm and ends it on Friday at 6am, is there a California law that dictates that the hours MUST be split between the two days, or is it an employer's discretion to "credit" the hours to one day or the other?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The employer can call any reasonable time the dividing point between days. So, for example, most late night establishments set a time somewhere between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. as the end of one day and beginning of another, to allow for clean-up after a 2am closing, but most employers with regular hours just make it Midnight. The only requirement is that it be consistent. They can't change it every time the schedule changes to avoid paying overtime, for example.