Attributed Tip Income Program Discontinued

The Attributed Tip Income Program (ATIP) will be discontinued after December 31, 2011, reports the IRS. A pilot program for the food and beverage industry, ATIP has been in operation from 2007 through 2011 but only attracted a small amount of participants.

Read more...

Online Payroll

Meal and Rest Periods in CA

On April 12, 2012 the California Supreme Court clarified the meal- and rest-period laws.  Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court of San Diego. has been pending since 2008, and the impact of the decision is far reaching causing employers nationwide to review their employment practices.

The most contested issue was clarifying the employers obligation to “provide" the meal period.  Was it simply make it available or to ensure that the meal period is actually taken? The court held that an employer's obligation is to relieve its employees of all duty during a meal period and that employees will then be at liberty to use the meal period time for whatever they desire. The employer cannot force an employee either to work during the meal period or to skip it. Employees who are required to work during a meal period in violation of the meal period laws are entitled to an additional premium wage of one hour at the employee's regular rate of pay.

The court ruled that "the employer need not ensure that no work is done" during the provided meal period. However, if an employee actually does choose to work during a meal period, with no coercion from the employer to do so, then no violation has taken place.  Furthermore the employee is entitled only to "straight wages" if the employer has knowledge or reason to know that the work was performed. Employers should still consult legal counsel regarding these matters.  Utilizing a proper time and attendance system can certainly assist with any of these types of claims. This ruling makes it even more necessary for employer's need to have and enforce solid record keeping requirements in relation to employees' record of hours worked.

On the rest-period issue, the second most prominent issue at stake, the court clarified that employees are entitled to 10 minutes of rest for shifts between 3 ½ to 6 hours in length, 20 minutes for shifts of more than 6 hours up to 10 hours, and so on.  The court identified that there was no requirement that a rest period necessarily had to be scheduled before and after a meal period, but it noted that care should be taken to follow the timing standards for each separate category of meal or rest period. Finally, the clearly stated that in order for an employee to correctly waive rest periods, employees must be directly informed regarding their entitlement to rest periods.  An employee handbook is certainly one tool that could accomplish this.