Reporting Time Pay in California – What is “show-up pay”?

In California, you may be entitled to reporting time pay if you show up to work but get sent home before working half of your shift, or if you work a second shift of under 2 hours. Your employer may have to pay you for hours you did not work. However, there are some exceptions to this “minimum shift rule” requirement.

Am I entitled to reporting time pay if I get sent home early?

You may be entitled to reporting time pay, also known as “show-up pay,” if:

• you are a non-exempt employee,
• you are required to report to work,
• you are either not put to work or are given less than half of your usual or scheduled day’s work, and then
• you get sent home by your employer.¹

If this happens to you, your employer is legally required to pay you for at least one-half of your shift for:

• a minimum of 2 hours, and
• a maximum of 4 hours.²

How you get paid

This obligation to pay can be satisfied with a mixture of hours that were actually worked and with reporting time pay.

For example: Kevin reports to his retail job at 8am. He is supposed to work an 8-hour shift: From 8am until 5pm with a lunch break from noon to 1pm. However, business is slow and his boss tells Kevin to go home at 11am because of the lack of work. Kevin is entitled to payment for the 3 hours that he actually worked. Additionally, he is entitled to 1 hour of reporting time pay to cover half of his shift, up to the maximum of 4 hours.

For example: The next day, Kevin reports for an identical shift. His boss has scheduled too many workers for the shift, though, and tells Kevin to go home before he has clocked in. Kevin is entitled to 4 hours of reporting time pay to cover half of his shift, the maximum required by reporting time pay law.

The payment has to be at the employee’s regular rate of pay. This means that it has to be at least the minimum wage rate.

Remember that your regular rate of pay is different from your base pay. Unlike your base pay, your regular rate of pay comprises commissions, bonuses, nondiscretionary pay, and more.

Why reporting time pay exists

The goals of reporting time pay are to:

• penalize your employer for making you come in to work and then not paying you,
• protect workers from erratic working schedules,
• encourage employers to take steps to correctly staff their businesses, and
• make employers bear the costs of shortened shifts, rather than employees who are counting on their full wages.³

What if I have to show up to work a second time?

You can also be entitled to reporting time pay if your employer:

• demands that you return to work for a second shift on a single work day, and
• gives you less than 2 hours of work during that second shift.⁴

In these cases, you are entitled to 2 hours of pay at your regular pay rate. This is the case, even if you did not work the full 2 hours after the second reporting. The difference between the number of hours that you actually worked and the full 2 hours is your reporting time pay.

For example: After being told to go home from his regularly scheduled shift because business was slow, Kevin is called back to work at 6pm. The rush of customers quickly subsides, though, and Kevin’s boss tells him to go back home at 7pm. Even though Kevin has only worked for one hour at minimum hourly wage, he is entitled to 2 hours’ pay. The additional hour is reporting time pay.

Does this affect overtime pay?

No, reporting time pay does not count toward overtime pay. Show-up pay is a penalty assessed against employers, not compensation for work performed. It is not used to calculate overtime rates.

For example: Kevin got sent home before clocking in because his boss scheduled too many workers. This entitled Kevin to 4 hours of show-up pay. His boss then called Kevin in to work later in the same day and Kevin worked 9 hours. He is only entitled to one hour of overtime pay, not 5.

Are there times when I can get sent home and not receive reporting time pay?

Yes, there are some circumstances where California employers are not required to make reporting time payments. These are when:

• the business cannot open or has to close because of threats to the business’ property or workers,
• a civil authority has recommended that the business close or that it does not open,
• there is a public utilities failure affecting:
  • electricity,
  • water,
  • gas, or
  • the sewer system; or
• work is interrupted by an Act of God that is beyond the employer’s control.⁵

For example: Kevin shows up to work to discover that a car has driven through the storefront. His boss tells him to go home. Kevin is not entitled to show-up pay.

Additionally, you are only entitled to show-up pay if you are sent home by your employer. If you leave work for a personal reason before half of your shift is done, you are not entitled to reporting time payments.

What does it mean to report to work?

You report to work when you present yourself to start a work shift. This does not require your physical presence at the worksite. If your employer requires you to present yourself in a different manner, and you follow those instructions, you have reported to work.

Examples

Some examples of when an employee reports to work for a scheduled shift are when their employer requires him or her to:

• log on to a computer for a remote shift,
• show up at a client’s job site,
• set out a driving route, or
• call in to the employer 2 hours before the shift is supposed to start in order to confirm that they are still needed at work.⁶

Any of these examples triggers the reporting time provisions of California’s labor laws.

Are these payments considered a wage in California?

Even though reporting time pay does not affect overtime pay, it does constitute a wage under California employment law.⁷ This means:

• reporting time pay must be included on your pay stub,
• you are entitled to all of your accumulated reporting time pay in your final paycheck, and
• reporting time pay that is not provided in the final paycheck can lead to waiting time penalties.⁷

Can I get reporting time pay for meetings that end early?

If your employer requires you to come to a meeting that was scheduled in advance and on a day you do not normally work – and the meeting ends early – you should be entitled to reporting time pay if it lasts for less than half of the projected time.

So if what was supposed to be a two-hour meeting lasts 59 minutes, you should get two hours of reporting time. Though if what is supposed to be a two-hour meeting lasts 61 minutes, then you’d get only 61 minutes of your regular rate of pay.⁸

Can I get reporting time pay if I leave early because I am sick?

In general, you would not be entitled to reporting time pay if you leave work early on your own because you feel ill (whether with COVID-19 or something else). Though if your boss orders you to leave early, then you probably would be entitled to reporting time pay.⁹

What if my employer is not satisfying reporting time pay requirements?

You can file a wage claim with the labor commissioner at the California Department of Industrial Relations (DLSE). If that does not resolve the issue, you can file a wage and hour lawsuit.

These lawsuits demand unpaid wages and interest to be assessed for the time they were not paid. You can recover unpaid wages no matter whether your employer purposely withheld your pay or was simply ignorant of the law.

These lawsuits must be filed within 3 years of the last failure to pay you reporting time.¹⁰ If you fail to comply with this statute of limitations, your lawsuit can be easily dismissed.

Class action lawsuits

Many of these claims under California wage and hour law become class actions. If your employer is not paying you the show-up pay that you are entitled to receive, other coworkers are also probably not getting paid.

Retaliation lawsuits

Note that if your employer retaliates against you for asking for wages that you are entitled to – such as by demoting you or firing you – we can also file a retaliation complaint with the Labor Commissioner or bring a lawsuit.

Additional resources

For more information, refer to the following:

• Reporting Time Pay – Summary of the law by the California Department of Industrial Relations.
• Reporting Time Pay: A Key Solution to Curb: Unpredictable and Unstable Scheduling Practices – Fact Sheet by the National Women’s Law Center.
• Reporting Time Pay: When It’s Owed Depends on Circumstances – Article by the California Chamber of Commerce.
• Sending Home Symptomatic Employees: Is Reporting Time Pay Owed? – Guide by the California Employers Association.
• Show-up Pay or Reporter Pay – Overview by employeeissues.com.

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