California high court upholds on-call workers' employment claims

The Supreme Court of California has unanimously ruled that workers who must be on call at a work site must be paid for their waiting time, even if they're watching television or sleeping. The employment claims were made through a class-action lawsuit filed by security guards employed by a California company with 1500 employees. The decision will reportedly have statewide impact, in that the same principles will likely apply to a variety of other on-call workers, including, for example, in-home domestic workers.

The decision tended to turn on the issue of the employer's control over the employee. The greater control exerted on the on-call workers, the greater the obligation to pay for all of their hours. The case once again demonstrates the far-reaching effects that class-action employment lawsuits can have in the area of employment law.

One attorney involved in the case indicated that the ruling would not apply to government or hospital workers. Some observers complained that the decision will have a devastating impact on the state economy, in light of attempts to recover from the recession. Others hailed it as a great victory for California workers.

In the arrangement that was struck down, the security guards were paid for the full eight hours only if they were needed to work at least for three hours. The indicia for determining what workers may be entitled to payment in other situations will depend on the degree of employer control, such as whether worker movements were restricted and whether they could easily leave the worksite on their own business. The decision protects employees from the potentially unfair situation of waiting for eight hours and getting nothing. 

In some ways, the debate over these employment claims in California is similar to the minimum wage debate occurring throughout the country. Business interests say that the economy is still recovering from the recession and that increasing wages would set that progress back. Employees point out that with more wages, consumers will be able to buy more products and the economy will be stimulated in the process.

Source: Los Angeles Times, "On-call workers entitled to pay for all hours spent at job, court rules", Maura Dolan, Jan. 8, 2015