Paylionce Payroll Solutions - Blog #compliance

California requires that employers post the following notices

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 00:59:07 -0400

California requires that employers post the following notices in a prominent location. Along with Federal Requirements.

Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Orders
Minimum Wage
Paid Sick Leave
Payday Notice
Safety and Health Protection on the Job
Emergency Phone Numbers
Access to Medical and Exposure Records (employers using hazardous or toxic substances)
Operating Rules for Industrial Trucks (employers operating forklifts and other types of industrial trucks or tow tractors)
Notice to Employees—Injuries Caused by Work
Notice of Workers’ Compensation Carrier and Coverage
Whistleblower Protections
No Smoking Signage
Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (employers with 11 or more employees in the previous year)
Farm Labor Contractor Statement of Pay Rates (farm labor contractors licensed by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement)
Prevailing Wage Rate Determinations (public-works awarding bodies and contractors)
Discrimination and Harassment in Employment Are Prohibited by Law
Pregnancy Disability Leave (employers with 5 to 49 employees)
Family Care and Medical Leave (CFRA Leave) and Pregnancy Disability Leave (employers with 50 or more employees)
Notice to Employees (regarding unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and paid family leave insurance)
Notice to Employees: Unemployment Insurance Benefits
Notice to Employees: Time off to Vote
Human Trafficking (certain businesses)
Transgender Rights in the Workplace

The California Department of Industrial Relations provides these posters for free (Click Here)

Federal Requirements

The FirstStep Poster Advisor is designed to help employers comply with the poster requirements of several laws administered by the Department of Labor (DOL). These laws require employers to display official DOL posters where employees can readily observe them. DOL provides the posters at no cost to employers.

California Meal & Rest Breaks

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 00:43:17 -0400

Under California state law employers must provide non-exempt employees with both meal and rest breaks during their workday. The type and number of breaks is dependent on the length of the employee's shift as well as whether they are classified as exempt or non-exempt. These rules do not apply to truck drivers regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT's) hours-of-service requirements.

Rest Breaks

Non-exempt employees are entitled to rest breaks in addition to meal breaks, subject to the following rules:

Employees are entitled to one 10-minute rest period during each four-hour shift, or "major fraction thereof"; The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement considers anything more than two hours to be a "major fraction" of four.
A rest period is not required for an employee whose total daily work time is less than 3.5 hours.
Employers should provide a ten-minute break for a shift between 3.5 and 6 hours, a second 10-minute break for a shift lasting between 6 hours and 10 hours, and a third 10-minute break for a shift lasting between 10 and 14 hours.
Rest breaks should be provided as closely as practicable to the middle of the work period.
Employees working in extreme weather conditions must be given a five-minute break in a shaded or otherwise protected area as needed; this is considered a cool-down or recovery period, and must be offered in addition to other meal and rest breaks. This break must be paid.
Rest periods are counted as time worked; therefore, the employer must pay for such periods. Employees may not be required to stay on the employer's premises during their rest break.
For each day when an employee is required to work through one or both break periods, or is not provided with cool-down periods, the employer must pay the employee for one additional hour of work. This extra hour of pay is considered a penalty rather than wages.
Exception: For certain employees of 24-hour residential care facilities who may have their rest period limited under certain circumstances.
Exception: For swimmers, dancers, skaters, and other performers engaged in strenuous physical activities who shall have additional interim rest periods during periods of actual rehearsal or shooting.
Exception: For employees in certain on-site occupations in the construction, drilling, logging and mining industries, the employer may stagger the rest periods to avoid interruption in the flow of work and to maintain continuous operations, or schedule rest periods to coincide with breaks in the flow of work that occur in the course of the workday. Additionally, for these employees rest periods need not be authorized in limited circumstances when the disruption of continuous operations would jeopardize the product or process of the work. However, under such circumstances, the employer must make up the missed rest period within the same workday or compensate the employee for the missed ten minutes of rest time at his or her regular rate of pay within the same pay period.
Exception: For some employees in the motion picture and broadcasting industries under certain circumstances.

Note: Federal law requires that lactating women be provided with reasonable breaks to express milk for up to one year after the birth of a child. For additional information, see Recommended content.

Meal Breaks

Non-exempt employees are entitled to an unpaid meal break (or two), subject to the following rules:

Employers must provide a meal period of at least 30 minutes beginning no later than the fifth hour of work (e.g., an employee who begins work at 8:00 am must be allowed to begin their lunch period no later than 1:00 pm).
When the work period is six hours or fewer, the meal period may be waived by mutual consent of both the employer and employee.
When the work period is longer than 10 hours, a second meal period of at least 30 minutes must be provided.
If an employee works a total of 12 hours or fewer, the second meal period may be waived by mutual consent of the employer and the employee only if the first meal period was not waived.
If the nature of the work prevents relief from all duties, then the on-duty meal period must be compensated. If an employee is required to eat on the work site, the employer must provide a suitable place to consume a meal, as well as soap and water.
Employees may be required to stay on the employer's premises to eat if they choose to purchase a discounted meal; the option of leaving the premises must be available if the meal is full price.
For each shift that a meal period is not provided, the employer must pay the employee for one additional hour of work at the employee’s regular rate. Example: An employee generally works from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm with a 30-minute unpaid meal period. If they are prevented from taking lunch and therefore work 8.5 hours, they must be paid for 9.5 hours. This extra hour of pay is considered a penalty rather than wages.
Employers must relieve employees of all duties during the meal period, but the employer is not responsible for policing the break to ensure that no work is performed during that time.
Employees subject to collective bargaining agreements may be exempt from the meal period requirement.

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California Final Paychecks

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 22:22:00 -0400

Requirements: Final Paychecks & Notices

If the employee is terminated: Immediately.

If the employee quits: Within 72 hours of notice of quitting or, if the employee provided 72 hours’ notice, on their last day of work.

If the employee dies: To the employee’s surviving spouse or the estate conservator up to $15,000.00 when they present an affidavit

The method of payment is as follows:

If the employee is terminated: At the place of termination.

If the employee quits with at least 72 hours’ notice: At the employer’s office in the county where they worked.

If the employee quits without 72 hours’ notice: At the employer’s office in the county where they worked or by mail if they request it and provide a mailing address.

Specific rules apply to certain industries, such as canning fruits, motion pictures, and oil drilling.

Notices
Employers in California must provide their employees with a notice when their employment status changes (e.g., discharge, layoff, leave of absence). The Employment Development Department provides a sample form here.

Employers must also provide their employees with a pamphlet about unemployment benefits, which is available here.

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California Sick Leave

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 16:10:02 -0400

Applicability

Employers must provide employees who work 30 or more days in California per year, whether full-time, part-time, or temporary, with paid sick leave based upon the number of hours worked. Certain categories of employees are exempted from coverage, including employees with a collective bargaining agreement (provided that the agreement meets certain specifications), in-home support service providers, and certain air carrier and flight employees. There is no exception for small employers.

Accrual
Employees will accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Exempt employees will be presumed to work 40 hours per week unless they are regularly scheduled to work fewer hours, in which case accrual will be based on their usual schedule. Accrual will begin immediately upon employment. Employers may cap accrual at 48 hours. Unused time will carry over up to the accrual limit.

Employers may choose to use a lump sum method of providing sick leave by granting each employee 24 hours or three days of paid leave (whichever is greater) at the beginning of each benefit year. A benefit year may be any regular consecutive 12-month period. If a lump sum method is used unused time may be forfeit at the end of a benefit year rather than carried over.

Use of Leave
Employers may cap use of leave at 24 hours per year. Employers may prevent employees from using any time accrued until their 90th day of employment. Employers must allow employees to use sick leave in increments as small as two hours.

Employers cannot require employees to find their own replacement worker as a condition of taking sick time.

Employees may use sick leave for the following reasons:

Obtaining preventative care or diagnosis or for treatment of an existing health condition of the employee or the employee's family member.
Other medical reasons of the employee, such as pregnancy or obtaining a physical examination.
Providing care or assistance to a family member with an illness, injury, or medical condition, including assistance in obtaining professional diagnosis or treatment of a medical condition.
When the employee or their family member is obtaining:

Medical attention needed to recover from physical or psychological injury or disability caused by domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking;
Services from a victim services organization;
Psychological or other counseling;
Relocation due to the domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or
Legal services, including preparing for or participating in any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to or resulting from the domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Family members include:

Children, whether biological, adopted, step, foster, the child of a domestic partner or a child for whom the employee stands in loco parentis;
Parents, whether biological, adopted, step, foster, in-law; a legal guardian; or someone stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor;
Grandparents;
Grandchildren;
Siblings, whether biological, adopted, step, or foster;
Legal guardians and wards;
Spouses.

Payment
When sick leave is used, it must be paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay. Employees need not be compensated for unused sick leave at the end of employment.

Rehire
Employees rehired within one year of termination must have any previously accrued but unused sick leave reinstated, unless it was paid out upon termination. The rehired employee is not be subject to the waiting period and their time must be made available for use immediately.

Notice
Employers must give a written notice of the right to sick leave at the time of hire. This notice must detail employees’ rights in accruing, requesting and using paid sick leave without fear of retaliation or termination as well as their right to file complaints and participate in investigations of the employer’s non-compliance without fear of negative actions against them. Employers must display a poster with similar information in a common area accessed by employees. A written accounting of each employee’s available sick leave must be distributed to the employee every pay day. If an employer provides unlimited paid sick leave or unlimited paid time off, the employer may note “unlimited” on the employee’s itemized wage statement.

Employers must document each employee’s accrual and usage of paid sick leave and must retain the records for at least three years. Employers who violate this new law may be liable for civil penalties to the employee as well as the attorney fees and costs of the employee and the Labor Commission.

Infringement and Retaliation
It is unlawful for an employer or any other person to deny, interfere with, or fail to pay for sick time an employee has the statutory right to use. Employers also must not implement or enforce an absence control policy that has the intent or effect of making the use of sick time afforded by this law a cause for discipline. Retaliation or discrimination with respect to terms and conditions of employment because an employee inquires about, requests, or uses sick time, or initiates or participates in any investigation related to this statute is unlawful.

Municipalities
Several municipalities have implemented separate paid sick leave regulations, which you can find using the search bar.

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California Independent Contractor ABC Test

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 15:14:59 -0400

For a worker to be properly classified as an independent contractor (sometimes called a “1099 contractor” or “1099 employee” ), they must pass certain tests under federal and state law. California employers have been subject to the “ABC test” since April of 2018 because of a California Supreme Court ruling. Effective January 1, 2020, the ABC test will become part of California’s statutes as well. The primary difference between the law made by the Supreme Court ruling and the law as of January 1 is that the new statute includes certain types of workers that will not be subject to the ABC test, but instead the less strict Borello test. Both tests are described below.

The ABC Test

To properly classify a worker as an independent contractor, the employer must be able to say “yes, this is true” to all three parts of the test. A worker may be classified as an independent contractor if:

A. The worker is free from the control and direction of the hirer in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of such work and in fact;

B. The worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and

C. The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity.

A Explained – Free From Control

Every state and federal test currently in use for independent contractors looks at control. Most, however, ask about degree of control. The ABC test is much more definitive—it demands that the worker be free from control. The ruling does not define the exact meaning of “free,” but for now we encourage employers to take this criterion at face value. If an employer dictates how or where the work gets done or who does it, they have an employee. Likewise, although an employer may put a “when” on work by establishing a deadline, they should not dictate that the work be done on certain days or during certain hours.

B Explained – Outside Usual Course of Business

An independent contractor must be doing work that is outside the employer’s usual course of business—that is, not essential to the offerings of the business. For example, in a restaurant, the cooks and servers do work that is in the usual course of business, whereas someone hired to design the new menu or reupholster the booths does not. The cooks and servers must always be employees, while those who do work that is not part of the business’s core offering would pass this requirement of the test.

C Explained – Worker Has an Established Business

Part C asks whether the worker is in business for themselves doing the kind of work that they are doing for the organization that has hired them. For instance, does the individual hired to design the new menu offer their graphic design skills on the open market? Do they have other paying customers, a business card, a website, their own graphic design software? Is their business registered with the state?

The focus—in inquiries from the state and in future litigation—will likely be more on whether the individual made money from other sources doing the same kind of work they offered to the employer and less on whether they had the standard business accessories. That said, the more evidence of an established business, the stronger the argument for an independent contractor.

Workers exempt from the ABC test but subject to Borello include the following:

• Licensed insurance agents

• Certain licensed health care professionals

• Licensed lawyers, architects, engineers, private investigators, and accountants

• Registered securities broker-dealers or investment advisers

• Direct salespeople who are exempt from unemployment insurance

• Real estate licensees (may be subject to tests other than Borello)

• Commercial fishermen

• Certain providers of professional services (see below)

• Others performing work pursuant to a subcontract in the construction industry if certain criteria are met

Professional Services Exemption

Employees with contracts for certain professional services are subject to Borello if certain criteria are met. For purposes of worker classification, professional services are limited to the following:

Marketing, provided that the contracted work is original and creative in character and the result of which depends primarily on the invention, imagination, or talent of the employee or work that is an essential part of or necessarily incident to any of the contracted work.

Administrator of human resources, provided that the contracted work is predominantly intellectual and varied in character and is of such character that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time.

Certain travel agent services.

Graphic design.

Grant writer.

Fine artist.

Services provided by an enrolled agent who is licensed by the United States Department of the Treasury to practice before the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to Part 10 of Subtitle A of Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Payment processing agent through an independent sales organization.

Certain services provided by a still photographer or photojournalist.

Certain services provided by a freelance writer, editor, or newspaper cartoonist.

Services provided by a licensed esthetician, licensed electrologist, licensed manicurist, licensed barber, or licensed cosmetologist, subject to certain restrictions.

To qualify for the professional services exemption from the ABC test, the following criteria must be met:

The worker maintains a business location separate from the hiring entity. Their business location may be their own home. (They are not prohibited from choosing to perform services at the location of the hiring entity.)
If work is performed more than six months after the effective date of this section, the worker has a business license, in addition to any required professional licenses or permits for the them to practice in their profession.
The worker has the ability to set or negotiate their own rates for the services performed.
Outside of project completion dates and reasonable business hours, the worker has the ability to set the individual’s own hours.
The worker is customarily engaged in the same type of work performed under contract with another hiring entity or holds themselves out to other potential customers as available to perform the same type of work.
The worker customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment in the performance of the services.
In addition, the worker must provide their services through a sole proprietorship or other business entity.

The Borello Test

In applying the economic realities test, the most significant factor to be considered is whether the person to whom service is rendered (the employer or principal) has control or the right to control the worker both as to the work done and the manner and means in which it is performed. Additional factors that may be considered depending on the issue involved are as follows:

Whether the person performing services is engaged in an occupation or business distinct from that of the principal;
Whether or not the work is a part of the regular business of the principal or alleged employer;

Whether the principal or the worker supplies the instrumentalities, tools, and the place for the person doing the work;
The alleged employee's investment in the equipment or materials required by his or her task or his or her employment of helpers;
Whether the service rendered requires a special skill;
The kind of occupation, with reference to whether, in the locality, the work is usually done under the direction of the principal or by a specialist without supervision;
The alleged employee's opportunity for profit or loss depending on his or her managerial skill;
The length of time for which the services are to be performed;
The degree of permanence of the working relationship;
The method of payment, whether by time or by the job; and

Whether or not the parties believe they are creating an employer-employee relationship may have some bearing on the question, but is not determinative since this is a question of law based on objective tests.

Even where there is an absence of control over work details, an employer-employee relationship will be found if (1) the principal retains pervasive control over the operation as a whole, (2) the worker's duties are an integral part of the operation, and (3) the nature of the work makes detailed control unnecessary.

Other points to remember in determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor are that the existence of a written agreement claiming to establish an independent contractor relationship is not determinative and the fact that a worker is issued a 1099 form rather than a W-2 form is also not determinative with respect to independent contractor status.

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California Payroll Requirements

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:14:43 -0400

California Payroll Tax Withholding Information

AB-5 Worker status Assembly Bill No. 5 : Employees and independent contractors

Employer Registration – California business owners must register online with the Employment Development Department.

Withholding – Employees need to fill out Form DE4. There are two different methods for withholding: calculation or wage bracket. Supplemental rates are to withheld at a flat 6.6% unless bonus or stock option. Then, they are withheld at 10.23%.

Overtime laws – California has some of the most restrictive overtime laws in the nation. Employers must pay hourly employees one and one-half times their regular hourly rate for every hour worked over 40 in a week; for every hour worked over eight in a single workday; for the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive workday of a workweek; and double the regular rate for each hour over 12 in a workday, and, in most industries, for every hour over the seventh consecutive workday.

State Unemployment Insurance – The state unemployment wage base for 2018 and 2019 is $7,000.
New employers pay a SUTA Rate of 3.4% for 2018 and 2019. Experienced employers can find their rate online.

State Disability Insurance – The 2018 SDI withholding rate is 1.0%. The 2019 SDI withholding rate is 1.0%. The rate includes Disability Insurance (DI)

and Paid Family Leave (PFL).

The SDI taxable wage limit for 2019 is $118,371 per employee, per year. The 2019 DI/PFL maximum weekly benefit amount is $1,183.71.
The SDI taxable wage limit for 2018 is $114,967 per employee, per year. The 2018 DI/PFL maximum weekly benefit amount is $1,149.67.

Labor Laws – California’s minimum wage in 2019 is $12.00 for employers with 26 or more employees and $11.00 for employers with 25 or fewer employees.

California employers should check their city for different minimum wage laws. If the employee is fired, the employer must pay the employee’s termination pay immediately. If the employee quits, the employer must pay the final payroll within 72 hours, or immediately if the employee gives 72 hours notice.

Workers Compensation - California employers are required by law to have workers' compensation insurance, even if they have only one employee. And, if your employees get hurt or sick because of work, you are required to pay for workers' compensation benefits. Workers' comp insurance provides basic benefits, including medical care, temporary disability benefits, permanent disability benefits, supplemental job displacement benefits and a return-to-work supplement, and death benefits.

New Hire Reporting – New hires should be reported online or mailed to:
Employment Development Department
P.O. Box 997016, MIC 96
Sacramento, CA 95799-7016
Fax: 916-319-4400

Child Support – Child support withholding can be paid online or sent to:
CA SDU
P.O. Box 989067
West Sacramento, CA 95798-9067
Phone: 866-901-3212

Helpful Links –
CA Employment Development Department
California Department of Industrial Relations
CA Department of Child Support Services

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