Overtime lawsuit invokes "seventh day" rule
Two employees of Ventura, California-based Metson Marine recently took the company to court over its overtime wage practices, Compensation BLR reports.
The company split the two employees' days worked across two designated work weeks. However, this did not eliminate its requirement to pay overtime - which, according to the California Labor Code, must be paid for the first eight hours worked on the seventh day in any work week.
The workers sued to recover the unpaid wages, but the case was dismissed by a trial court, which ruled Metson's payroll calculations had been correct. They appealed, arguing that Metson's designation of an artificial work week should not allow the company to avoid the requirements of the labor code, which specifies that a work week should consist of "a fixed and regularly occurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods."
The Court of Appeals concurred, finding that the labor code's intent was to provide overtime to employees required to work a seventh consecutive day in a fixed and regularly occurring work week.
The court cited a 2007 decision that ruled against Walmart, which had been attempting to evade overtime requirements in a similar manner.
The company split the two employees' days worked across two designated work weeks. However, this did not eliminate its requirement to pay overtime - which, according to the California Labor Code, must be paid for the first eight hours worked on the seventh day in any work week.
The workers sued to recover the unpaid wages, but the case was dismissed by a trial court, which ruled Metson's payroll calculations had been correct. They appealed, arguing that Metson's designation of an artificial work week should not allow the company to avoid the requirements of the labor code, which specifies that a work week should consist of "a fixed and regularly occurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods."
The Court of Appeals concurred, finding that the labor code's intent was to provide overtime to employees required to work a seventh consecutive day in a fixed and regularly occurring work week.
The court cited a 2007 decision that ruled against Walmart, which had been attempting to evade overtime requirements in a similar manner.
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