A California Court of Appeal recently issued its decision in Ward v. Tilly’s, instituting a sweeping change in California’s reporting-time pay rules and now prohibiting a common scheduling practice used by employers throughout the state. Following the Feb. 4 decision, California employers who require employees to call in two hours before a shift to determine whether or not they are needed, and report to work if called in, are now obligated to pay that employee, at a minimum, for two hours of work even if the employee is informed that there is no need to come in to work that day. As a result of this decision, employers should be careful to craft scheduling policies that avoid the same pitfalls seen in this case.

Background and Decision

Under Tilly’s scheduling policy, Skylar Ward was required to call in approximately two hours before the start of her shift to determine whether she needed to come to work. If Tilly’s told her to report to work, she was required to do so and would be paid for that shift as normal. However, if Tilly’s informed her that there was no need to come in, Ward would receive no compensation—after all, according to Tilly’s, all she did was make a single call and never actually reported to the worksite.

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