Does an employer need to track the amount of other nonproductive time worked by an employee who is compensated on a piece-rate basis?
It depends. If the employer utilizes the “safe harbor” option of subdivision (a)(7) (i.e., “in addition to paying any piece-rate compensation, pays an hourly rate of at least the applicable minimum wage for all hours worked”), then the compensation and wage statement requirements for other nonproductive time are satisfied, and the employer is not required to determine or to record the actual amount of hours worked in other nonproductive time. (See §226.2(a)(2)(B); (a)(4); (a)(7).)
If the employer does not use this “safe harbor” option of paying an hourly rate of at least minimum wage for all hours worked, then the amount of hours worked in other nonproductive time must be determined (§226.2(a)(5)), listed on the wage statement, (§226,2(a)(2)(B)), and compensated separately at an hourly rate of at least minimum wage (§226.2(a)(4)).
Subdivision (a)(5), however, provides that “[t]he amount of other nonproductive time may be determined either through actual records or the employer’s reasonable estimates, whether for a group of employees or for a particular employee, of other nonproductive time worked during the pay period.” (Labor Code §226.2(a)(5).) This allows employers the option of determining the amount of other nonproductive time worked based on a reasonable estimate, rather than actual tracking of time.
Subdivision (a)(6) further provides that:
An employer who is found to have made a good faith error in determining the total or estimated amount of other nonproductive time worked during the pay period shall remain liable for the payment of compensation for all hours worked in other nonproductive time, but shall not be liable for statutory civil penalties, including, but not limited to, penalties under Section 226.3, or liquidated damages based solely on that error, provided that both of the following are true:
A. The employer has provided the wage statement information required by subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) and paid the compensation due for the amount of other nonproductive time determined by the employer in accordance with the requirements of paragraphs (4) and (5).
B. The total compensation paid for any day in the pay period is no less than what is due under the applicable minimum wage and any required overtime compensation.
In general terms, this means that if an employer makes a good faith error in determining the amount of other nonproductive time for a worker, whether determined through records or based on an estimate, in that the employee actually worked more other nonproductive time than was in the estimate or as otherwise determined by the employer, the employer remains liable to compensate the employee for all of the other nonproductive time the employee actually worked (at an hourly rate of at least minimum wage), but will not be liable for any statutory penalties.
This provision is subject to the two qualifications in subparagraphs (A) and (B), quoted above, including that the employer must have paid the employee at least minimum wage and any required overtime compensation on that minimum wage.
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