California Supreme Court: Pay Wages to On-Call Guards

Should employees be paid for time in which they are allowed to sleep or watch television? This was the question at issue in a recently filed wage and hour class action lawsuit over “uncompensated free time.”

But according to California’s Supreme Court, the issue at the heart of this wage and hour class action lawsuit is more complex than it seems.

This wage and hour lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Tim M. against CPS Security Solutions Incorporated over “uncompensated free time.” However, this is the company’s term for the time that guards were required to be on-site and on-call, usually on construction sites. During this on-call time, guards were allowed to sleep and watch TV.

However, they were forbidden from leaving the construction site, even for family emergencies. The employees argued that they should be compensated for this time in their wage and hour lawsuit.

One argument raised in the wage and hour lawsuit by CPS Security was that federal law may have preempted the specific California law that applied in this wage and hour lawsuit.

However, the judge ruled that while federal laws create a minimum standard, the legislature of California had created standards above and beyond those of federal law, which were not nullified by the fact that the federal law addressed the same issue to a lower standard.

This means that so long as California wage and hour laws meet the minimum standards of federal laws such as detailed in the Fair Labor Standards Act, the state is free to make its own stronger wage and hour laws.

Among the arguments made by the guards in the wage and hour class action lawsuit was the argument that the guard’s on-site presence was a benefit to CPS Security, which used the presence of the guards as a selling point in contracting to construction companies.

Additionally, the guards argued that CPS Security controlled the guards’ time, in that they could not leave the work site during their shift.

The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of these arguments, saying that CPS Security owed the guards for their unpaid wages during their on-call times.

During one of the appeals that eventually led this wage and hour lawsuit to California’s Supreme Court, a compromise was proposed that security guards be compensated for weekdays’ “unpaid free time.” However, this particular motion was denied, leading to the conclusion that CPS Security has to compensate guards for their on-call time.

Some pundits have raised concerns that this wage and hour lawsuit could have massive ripple effects throughout California. Similar on-call arrangements are widespread in California across a variety of industry sectors.

For example, the healthcare field in general, emergency workers, and environmental clean-up crews often have on-call arrangements similar to the one used by CPS Security. This could lead to widespread wage and hour class action lawsuits lawsuits throughout California.

The Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. S212704, filed in the California Supreme Court.

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