The component is not available at this moment. Please contact the site administrator.
To determine which Wage Order covers an employee or group of employees, you must first determine if your business is covered by one of the industry orders.
An industry, business or establishment must generally comply with the Wage Order applicable to the main purpose of the business, except Wage Order 5, Public Housekeeping Industry. For more information, see “Incidental Housekeeping Activities” in Wage Order Listings. Most large businesses conduct a variety of operations, but where they all tend to carry out a common business purpose under common general control, they are treated as one business.
Example: A manufacturer with a production plant in California may have a separate warehouse and a fleet of trucks and separate sales offices to handle distribution of the manufacturer’s products. All are part of one business under Wage Order 1.
If is the business is covered by an industry-wide order, the industry order covers all classifications of employees regardless of the kind of work they do, unless they are specifically exempted by the applicability section of that order. Industry orders include all but Wage Order 4, Wage Order 14, Wage Order 15 and Wage Order 17, which are occupation orders, and the Minimum Wage Order.
Example: A clerical employee employed by a toy maker works in the manufacturing organization covered by Wage Order 1, Manufacturing Industry. A driver who delivers supplies for a chain of beauty shops in the personal service industry is covered by Wage Order 2, Personal Services Industry. A mechanic who works for a retail chain is covered by Wage Order 7, Mercantile Industry.
If your business cannot be covered by an industry-wide order because it does not fall within the definition of any covered industry, you must examine the employee’s occupation to see which one of the occupation orders applies.
Example: An employee is a nurse — in what kind of establishment? They might be an industrial nurse employed by a manufacturer under Wage Order 1, by a weight-control establishment under Wage Order 2 or by a hospital under Wage Order 5. If the employer operated a clinic that did not provide overnight beds or meals, the clinic would not be covered by any industry order. But the nurse would be in an occupation covered by Wage Order 4. The same is true of a nurse employed by a registry. When dispatched to a Wage Order 5 hospital, however, that nurse would be subject to the applicable conditions of Wage Order 5, and a joint employment relationship exists.
Most employers who are not covered by industry orders are engaged in listed or related occupations covered by Wage Order 4, Professional, Technical, Clerical, Mechanical and Similar Occupations.
Several major types of businesses do not have industry-wide orders. The IWC treats these businesses as Wage Order 4 businesses. Some organizations and businesses that generally employ the classes of occupations covered by Wage Order 4 include banks, newspapers, public utilities, insurance companies and many others indicated in the listing of businesses by order.
Industries and occupations not covered by Wage Orders 1 through 16 may be covered by Wage Order 17, Miscellaneous Employees. These may include newly emerging industries and jobs in high technology and other fields as they develop over time. Currently the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement has not identified any occupations that meet the definition of “miscellaneous employees” in Industrial Welfare Commission Order 17-2001.
If your business is not covered by an industry order, your employees normally are covered by an occupation order, listed below:
Occupation Order Number |
Occupation |
|---|---|
|
Order 4-2001 |
Professional, Technical, Clerical, Mechanical and Similar Occupations |
|
Order 14-2001 |
Agricultural Occupations |
|
Order 15-2001 |
Household Occupations |
Some multipurpose organizations may consist of distinctly separate units. If the units are different, are operating for distinctly different business purposes and the operational management is organized separately at all levels, you can classify these units separately by division or establishment.
Example: A large retail department store chain also owns an insurance company and a savings and loan company whose representatives have office space in the stores. But each company operates separately as separate corporate identities. They are classified separately, but the retail business’s fleet of trucks, appliance installers, etc., are part of the mercantile industry under Wage Order 7. If that company owns any of the factories producing items under its brand name, the factories are under Wage Order 1. It may help to ask: Who is the competition? In this case, is the unit in question in competition with banking institutions, insurance companies or other retail stores?
To avoid classification problems, businesses that engage in multiple activities should define their primary purpose. This does not mean auditing receipts to compare income from sales and services offered, but determining the nature of the business on the basis of simple observation and common sense.
Examples:
Temporary agency employees who are sent to work for other employers are covered by the order that covers the on-site employer where they perform work. An employee of ABC Temp Services sent to work a temporary job at XYZ Manufacturing would work under Wage Order 1, Manufacturing, while working at XYZ. If the temp agency sent that same employee to another temporary job at Limelight Movie Studios, they would work under Wage Order 12, Motion Picture Industry. Wage Order 4, Professional, Technical, Clerical, Mechanical and Similar Occupations, covers employees directly employed by the temporary service, for example, those taking job orders, delivering training or assigning work.