Client Alert
A Paystub Showing Total Straight Time Hours and Total Overtime Hours Need Not Separately Show Total Hours
July 26, 2010
Ryan Hess & Kirby Wilcox
A California appellate court has reached the common sense conclusion that an employer who accurately lists total straight time and total overtime hours on a paystub does not violate California Labor Code Section 226 (Section 226) by failing to add those numbers together and report a single total of hours worked.
Following a request from the California Employment Law Council, the California Court of Appeals certified for publication Morgan v. United Retail, Inc., Case No. B216130 (June 23, 2010), on July 19, 2010. The employer in Morgan listed the accurate number of total straight time and total overtime hours that employees worked on the employees paystubs, but did not add those two figures together on the paystub. The employees alleged that this violated the paystub requirements listed in Section 226, which requires that paystubs show[] . . . [the] total hours worked by an employee. See Cal. Labor Code § 226(a)(2).
The appellate court affirmed the trial courts holding that an employer complies with Section 226(a) by listing the accurate number of total straight time and total overtime hours, even if the employer does not add those two figures together on the paystub.