Top 10 reasons ag employers get sued

In a recent PickTrace webinar, California ag employment attorney Erica Rosasco shared an insightful list of the top 10 reasons agricultural employers face lawsuits.

This blog post delves deeper into each of these issues, providing additional context and explaining how PickTrace’s digital labor management solutions can help employers mitigate compliance risks and improve legal defensibility against claims.

 10. Not having an arbitration agreement

• Employees should be given an opportunity to review and understand what they are being asked to sign
• Agreements must be signed by both parties and identify the employer’s’ name
• Prevents a class action, but not PAGA lawsuit

• Efficiently collect employee signatures on custom arbitration agreements as part of the electronic hiring process
• Have employees re-sign arbitration agreements as needed
• Track versions and detailed edit histories
• Export to PDF.

9. Missed payment of all wages due at end of
season or layoff

• ALL earned wages (including piece and bonuses) are due same workday for firings, and within 3 days for voluntary quits
• Employer is responsible for getting final checks to workers
• Additional penalties apply if not paid on time

• Track and report on all payroll data (hours+ pieces + bonus+overtime+min wage adjustments) in real time to accurately determine employees’ due wages
• Efficiently export payroll data to external systems for processing with pre-built integrations

8. Turning over payroll and personnel records

• Employers face risk of subpoena at any time
• Employers must provide exactly what is asked in a timely manner

• Securely consolidate payroll data, employee records and documents in the cloud
• Export data and documents on demand
• Track detailed edit histories with timestamps and unique user identification

7. Failing to comply with business expenses labor code 2802

• Employers cannot require employees to purchase tools, goods or services.
• Employers should not sell anything to employees
• Employers cannot charge employees who lose or break the employer’s tools or equipment

6. Not using weighted average overtime

• The rate that should be used for OT pay includes commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses, piecework earnings, and the value of meals and lodging (in some circumstances).
• If an employee, in a single workweek, performs two or more different types of work for which different non-overtime hourly rates of pay have been established, the employee’s regular rate for that week ordinarily is the weighted average of those rates.

• Automatically calculate employees weighted average overtime pay rate to determine “Regular rate of pay”
• Use real time data to determine the wholistic hourly rate paid for the employee’s work (including the agreed rate plus all other forms of compensation)

5. Rounding time incorrectly

Rounding at beginning and end of shift remains legal, but rounding start times could result in a late meal period (required for every 5 hrs worked)

• Accurately track employee check-ins down to the minute
• Optionally round timecards to the nearest quarter hour (employees’ favor)

4. Paycheck stub compliance

Itemized. wage statement must include specific, detailed information

Ensure all payroll data, including piece detail, is accurately and efficiently exported to payroll processing systems.

3. Failure to pay minimum wage

• If an employee is “suffered and permitted” to work, even though not instructed or requested to do so, it is considered compensable time
• Any work-related activities (eg prep, donning/doffing) before or after official work duties, are considered compensable time

• Automatically identify and calculate minimum wage adjustments for underperforming employees
• Accurately track employee time spent before and after primary tasks (setup, cleaning, travel)

2. Mishandling piece rate

Employers need to compensate employees accurately for rest and recovery and other non-productive time when paying piece rate

• Accurately track and report on piece units in real time
• Accurately track breaks and lunches
• Automatically calculate minimum wage adjustments and meal/rest pay

1. Meal/Rest Periods

• On-duty meal periods count as time worked (payable)
• Employers must pay premiums for missing, short, or interrupted meal and break periods

• Multiple options to track breaks and lunches accurate to when they are taken
• Minimum duration jobs help ensure breaks and lunches tracked in the system are of the appropriate length (warnings are raised to both web and field app users when duration is not met)
• Workers in the field can be proactively reminded to check crews into breaks/lunches at the appropriate amount Of time following checkin
• Office-side warnings and reports to flag when breaks and lunches are missing or of insufficient length