Jim Brown and Marc Koonin of the California Employment Law Letter offer a useful Top 10 list of “Need to Knows” about California wage & hour laws:

1. Know California’s daily and weekly overtime rates for various hours worked;
2. Overtime requirements apply to almost all types of wages, not just hourly wages or salaries;
3. You must compensate employees for all hours you “suffer or permit” them to work;
4. Be familiar with the specific “wage order” that applies to your workforce;
5. Just because an employee is exempt as an executive, administrative, or professional employee under federal law, it doesn’t make him exempt under California law; Read the rest of this entry »