More Employment Laws Affecting Lawyers (and their clients, too)

This year has seen myriad changes in state and federal employment affecting all employers - and even the lawyers who represent them. This new presentation to the Napa County Bar Association contains valuable advice for all businesses, showing how similar the legal industry is to all other types of workplaces.

Our September 26 presentation covers many of these changes, such as:

• Minimum Wage Changes

• Indoor Heat Regulations

• Workplace Violence Prevention

• Ergonomic Safety

• Paid Sick Leave Increase

• New-Hire Notices

• Non-Compete Agreements

• Retaliation

A copy of the presentation can be viewed (and shared) by clicking here.

An Irregular Definition of "Regular Rate"

California has long required meal and rest periods for hourly employees.  The requirement was virtually ignored for many years because failure to provide breaks resulted in almost no penalties.  This changed in 2000 after the state legislature mandated one-hour “wage” penalties for each day an employer fails to provide meal or rest periods as required.  Since then, employers have faced up to two penalties each day payable at an employee’s “regular rate of compensation.”

Under Labor Code section 226.7 and state “wage orders,” employees who miss a meal period, rest period, or recovery period (a cooldown period afforded to employees to prevent heat illness) are entitled to an additional hour of pay at the employee’s “regular rate of compensation.”  This is often called a “Wage Penalty.” 

Calculating the “regular rate of compensation” can be confusing for employers.  On the one hand, “regular rate” could mean an employee’s usual base hourly wage – which is the rule many employers followed for years.  On the other hand, it could mean an employee’s “regular rate of pay” as used for calculating overtime under state and federal law, which requires that an employee’s base rate be increased to reflect other types of pay such as differentials and incentive bonuses.  This conflict confused employers for decades until the California Supreme Court held that employers must use the broader definition of “regular rate” when calculating Wage Penalties.

This makes a big difference.  When calculating amounts due to an employee, employers must include hourly pay and non-discretionary payments such as shift differentials, incentive bonuses, and other compensation beyond base hourly rate. This should be a familiar calculation, as it is the same formula used for calculating “regular rate” for overtime premiums. 

One example could be an employee working at a winery for 20 hours at $15.00 per hour, but who also receives a $25 bonus for wine club signups.  Her usual base wage is $15.00 but her ‘regular rate’ is $16.25 ($15.00 x 20 hours plus $25 [$325], divided by the 20 hours worked).  If she missed two rest periods and one meal period that week, but was paid only $45 in Wage Penalties, she would have been underpaid $3.75.

This small difference can have a huge impact, as underpaid Wage Penalties may result in an overall wage underpayment when employees are terminated.  If so, the “waiting time” penalty for a single underpayment (under Labor Code section 203) could be up to 30 times an employee’s average daily pay.  (And this is in addition to other potential Labor Code penalties as well!)

Employers should keep this “regular rate” issue in mind when calculating missed meal and rest period premiums.  Heads up: the issue applies in other situations, such as sick pay calculations, as well.

Defend Your Secrets!

Everyone has secrets – even businesses.  But secrets can be good.  Customer lists, vendor relationships, pricing and profit margins, even the type of syrup in a coffee shop’s “double secret latte” are valuable information that, if disclosed, could seriously harm a business and give its competitors an advantage.

What is secret, and what is protected by law?  That question has two answers:  the type of information that can be protected, and the steps that must be taken to protect it. 

Employers assume that internal business information is “secret” or “confidential,” and that using such information outside the workplace justifies discipline.  That’s usually true; you can fire an employee, for example, if she compares pricing lists with a friend who works for a competitor.  But the ability to discipline or fire an employee for disclosing sensitive information does not protect the business after an employee leaves.  Nor does it create rights against outside parties who use confidential information. 

Unfortunately, all “confidential” information is not a “trade secret.”  And even if it could qualify for legal protection, information does not become “trade secret” unless its owner takes step to protect its confidentiality.

California adopted a version of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, a law incorporating legal principles developed over centuries since the rise of a business class in England.  Bringing these principles together law resolved some if their uncertainties and gave businesses a roadmap to protect (and enforce) the secrecy of their valuable information. 

In order to qualify as a “trade secret” under the act, information must be “a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process, that (1) derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to the public or to other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and (2) is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.”   In other words, to protect confidential information, you must show (1) that you can prove some real economic benefit to keeping information secret, and (2) that you have actually taken reasonable steps to protect the information.  Information a business failed to protect, for example by leaving it on a server without password protection, loses trade secret protection no matter how valuable it is.

If a business takes reasonable steps to protect information, then almost anything valuable can be a trade secrets customer lists, sales history, software modifications, production methods (such as using a particular machining process), personnel policies, industry targets.  If a business spent effort to develop a particular “method” or a list of information (such as promising prospects), those may be trade secret.  Taking trade secrets without authorization – known as “misappropriation” – is specifically prohibited by the Act.

Federal law protects trade secrets as well under a specific law, the Defend Trade Secrets Act. This law is likely to become more important in coming years as the Federal Trade Commission moves to prohibit almost all non-compete agreements. Protecting trade secrets is the best defense when an individual moves from one job to another. But beware: it is important to include specific language in confidentiality agreements for the federal law to apply.

Every business should take time to identify and take steps to protect its valuable information in advance.  These efforts may include written confidentiality agreements for all employees, training and periodic notices reiterating a business’ confidentiality policies, marking sensitive documents as “confidential,” limiting access to important information, and designating someone to manage and protect confidential information.  Taking time to find and protect your information in advance does not just protect an employer: it creates protection under the law.  That’s worth the effort for every business.