California leads the nation in vigilantly regulating the
conditions which constitute "hours worked." Definitions
are established, modified, and expanded by the California Labor
Code, its Wage Orders, and decisions by appellate courts. The
California Supreme Court recently made clear that California's
standard defining "hours worked" is more protective of
employees than the rules set forth under the federal Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA).
In Mendiola v. CPS Security Solutions, the court held, rejecting
federal interpretations, that on-call time of a group of security
guards scheduled on 24-hour shifts constituted "hours
worked" within the meaning of Wage Order 4, and therefore,
ruled that such time was subject to the Wage Order's minimum
wage and overtime provisions. In reaching this conclusion, the
court rejected the employer's attempt to apply federal
regulations broadly.
