I went to work as usual one day and there was no work to do so I was sent home. I was told to report for the second shift, I did and worked 8 hours. I was paid for 12 hours of work at my normal rate. Should 4 of those hours be at the overtime rate?
No. Your employer paid you correctly. Reporting time pay is a penalty against your employer for requesting you to work and not having enough work for you to do. Reporting time pay does not count when factoring overtime, because reporting time pay is not pay for actual work. You didn’t actually work more than 8 hours so you didn’t earn any overtime. If you worked an hour before being sent home and then came back for a second shift, you would be entitled to pay for 11 hours of work at your normal rate and 1 hour of overtime. In this example, you would have worked 9 hours, so 1 would be overtime. If you did report to work, were sent home after awhile and came back to work a total of more than 8 hours in one day, you would be entitled to overtime and reporting time pay. If you are owed both overtime and reporting time pay by your employer, you may want to file a reporting time pay wage claim in California.
Example:
Joe got to work and was sent home right away by his employer because there was not enough work to do. Joe was asked to come back for a later shift. Joe came back later and worked a full 8-hour shift. Joe should receive reporting time pay for 4 hours of work for his first shift, which is half of his scheduled shift. He should also receive 8 hours of pay for the 2nd shift. All in all, Joe should be paid for 12 hours of work for that day. Joe is not entitled to 4 hours of overtime, because overtime is only paid when an employee actually works more than 8 hours in one day. Reporting time pay is not actually for hours Joe worked, but rather a penalty against Joe’s employer, therefore it doesn’t go towards overtime hours. If Joe isn’t paid for 12 hours of work at his normal rate for that day, he may file a reporting time wage claim in California to recover all the wages he is entitled.
If you have a question about California reporting time pay law or want to file a reporting time pay wage claim in California, contact Strauss & Strauss APC now.