-Source-Los Angeles Times-
The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday that employers must pay workers for the minutes they spend on brief tasks off the clock.
The ruling came in a response to a federal appeals court request to clarify California labor law.
California’s laws “do not allow employers to require employees to routinely work for minutes off-the-clock without compensation,” Justice Goodwin Liu wrote for the state Supreme Court.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which asked the state high court to clarify the law, is considering a proposed class-action lawsuit against Starbucks brought by a supervisor who spent several minutes each night closing the store and walking workers to their cars after clocking out.
A federal district judge had thrown out the case, citing a federal “de minimis” rule that bans suits for compensation for small bits of time. The 9th Circuit asked the California court to determine whether the federal rule applied to claims for wages under California law.
The court said they did not. California’s laws require compensation for “all” time worked, the court said.
“A few extra minutes of work each day can add up,” Liu wrote.
He noted that the former Starbucks employee who sued worked 12 hours and 50 minutes off the clock over a 17-month period. At $8 an hour, that amounted to $102.67.
“That is enough to pay a utility bill, buy a week of groceries, or cover a month of bus fares,” Liu wrote. Read more
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