You must pay reporting time pay if employees report for work as scheduled or at your request but aren't put to work or are given less than half of the hours they were scheduled for or usually work.

Reporting time pay must be paid at the employee's regular rate of pay, which may be different from the employee's hourly rate of pay and can never be less than the minimum wage. Read more about the regular rate of pay in Calculating Overtime.

Reporting time pay is at least half of the hours the employee was scheduled for or usually worked, but never less than two hours pay and never more than four hours pay:

You also owe reporting time pay if an employee is required to report to work a second time in a workday and is given less than two hours of work on the second reporting. In this case, the employee must receive at least two hours pay for the second appearance.1

Reporting time pay is not owed:

• To employees on a paid standby status, who are called to work at times other than their usual shift.
• When operations cannot begin due to threats to the employee or property or when recommended by civil authority.
• When public utilities fail, such as water, gas, electricity or sewer.
• When work is interrupted by an act of God or other causes not within the employer’s control.

Reporting time pay also must be paid if an employee reports to work at an assigned time and is told that there is no work but to report back later. The employee would be entitled to pay for one-half his regular shift (not less than two hours) even though the employee may report back later and work a full shift. If, at the subsequent reporting time, the employee is not provided with at least two hours of work, the employee is entitled to at least two hours pay.2

When an employee is called in to work on a day other than their normal work schedule, that employee must be paid reporting time pay. This is sometimes referred to as call-in pay.

In a California court of appeal decision, the court determined that under Wage Order 7, reporting time pay is due when an employee is required to call-in two hours before a previously scheduled “on-call” shift. The court determined that employees were “reporting” for work when they called-in and therefore entitled to reporting time pay if they were told not to come into work.3

• While this case was decided under Wage Order 7, employers with similar policies should consult with legal counsel to determine whether this case impacts their particular workplace policies and practices.

Required Meetings

Under certain circumstances, reporting time pay is owed when you require employees to attend meetings. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) gives the following advice about reporting time pay and required attendance at meetings:

• When employees are required to attend a meeting on a day they aren’t scheduled to work, you must pay reporting time pay.
• If the meeting takes place on an employee’s regularly scheduled work day but the employee must return sometime after the end of their shift to attend the meeting, you must pay two hours of reporting time pay.4

If an employee is asked to report to work for a meeting on a day they are not scheduled to work, they will be owed reporting time pay. For example, in one case, an employee was called in by his supervisor “to have a talk” on a day that he was not scheduled to work. The employee was terminated during the “talk.” The employee received a check with his final wages, which included two hours of reporting time pay for reporting on the day of his termination.

The employee claimed he should have been paid for half of his regular shift on the day of his termination, based on the average number of hours worked for his employment.

The court determined that the employee was not entitled to more than two hours of reporting time pay because he was not scheduled to work the day he was terminated and there was no expectation that he would work that day. Nothing in the statute requires that the employer average the hours worked in order to determine reporting time pay for attending a meeting on a non-workday.5

On the other hand, reporting time pay is generally not owed when employees report to work for meetings that are scheduled in advance. In one case, the court ruled that employees who reported to work for regularly scheduled short meetings were not entitled to additional reporting time pay.6

The case involved sales and customer service representatives who were required to attend store meetings on weekend mornings before the store opened. The one and a half hour meetings were scheduled in advance, listed on the employee's work schedule, and recorded on the employer's electronic timekeeping system.

The employees argued that they should have received a minimum of two hours and up to four hours of reporting time pay (1/2 the regular shift) when they came in for the scheduled meetings.

The court disagreed and ruled that when an employee is scheduled to come in to work for only a two-hour meeting, the employee is entitled to reporting pay only if the meeting lasts less than half of the scheduled time (in this case, less than one hour). When the employees attended the meetings, they were there for the scheduled time and paid for that time. They did not work "less than half" the scheduled day's work and were not entitled to reporting time pay. Key to the court's decision was the fact that the meetings were scheduled in advance.

• Employers should consult legal counsel if unsure about reporting time pay requirements.

Call-In Pay

When an employee is called in to work on a day other than their normal work schedule, that employee must be paid reporting time pay.

1. IWC Wage Orders sec. 5