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Automotive technicians may generally be flat rate employees, but they are still protected by workers’ rights laws and California labor laws.
What is a Flat Rate Employee?
A flat rate employee is someone who is paid per job rather than a salary or an hourly rate. The flat rate system is meant to motivate employees to finish more jobs in a shorter amount of time in order to maximize their pay, but may unintentionally mean that quality is sacrificed for the sake of quantity, since quantity is what is rewarded under this system.
Automotive technicians are often paid a flat rate fee, while others are paid with a automotive technicians salary or an hourly rate, or even time billed.
A flat rate employee gets a predetermined percentage of each flat rate job they complete.
While the flat rate system is relatively non-traditional, these employees are still workers who are protected by labor laws, like any other non-exempt employee. For instance, even when being paid a flat rate fee, automotive technicians should still be receiving at least minimum wage, even if minimum wage for the time spent would be over what the flat rate pay is.
California flat rate employees are protected by the laws set forth in California’s Industrial Welfare Commission.
When Does a Flat Rate Employee Receive Overtime Pay?
It may seem that being paid a flat rate would eliminate a worker from overtime pay eligibility for extra hours worked. But in fact, like all non-exempt employees, flat rate workers are entitled to be paid an overtime premium if they work in excess of eight hours in one day or more than 40 hours in a week.
On the opposite end of the scale, if a worker comes in to work but there is no work to be had, they are entitled to at least one-half day’s pay.
Should Automotive Technicians Receive Breaks as Flat Rate Workers?
Another major aspect of California labor law is meal and rest breaks—and yes, flat rate workers are entitled to these breaks as well, just like all other non-exempt employees.
Breaking it down, if an employee works five hours or more in a day, they must be provided at least one 30-minute unpaid meal break, about halfway through their shift. Sometimes, in the context of an auto repair shop, it may be tempting for an employer to have their workers stay in the shop on their break “just in case” something comes up. But this is illegal under labor laws—an employer cannot require any job-related duties during the required unpaid meal break.
However, the meal break can be waived if the employee works up to six hours in a day, and no more, if the employer and employee mutually agree without coercion. If the employee works at least six hours, however, the meal break is required and cannot be waived.
On top of meal breaks, flat rate employees are also entitled to at least one 10-minute rest break for every four hours of work, approximately halfway between each four-hour period. These rest breaks must be paid, but the employer cannot legally require the employee to perform any job duties during their breaks.
Does the Pay Change if Automotive Technicians Are Required to Bring Their Own Tools?
Under normal circumstances, an auto shop must provide all tools, equipment, and uniforms that their automotive technicians use to perform their work. However, an employer can require than employee provide their own tools, as long as the employer pays them at least twice the minimum wage per hour.
Examples of Flat Rate Worker Violations
There are several common examples of labor law violations against flat rate workers. These include failure to pay overtime, failure to pay at least minimum wage for redone work, failure to pay for time spent waiting for a vehicle to repair, failure to pay twice minimum wage when required to bring their own tools, and more.
A Dealership’s Point of View
One Toyota dealership’s assistant manager told Monster.com that managers often view hourly paid automotive technicians as less productive workers because they have no incentive to perform a job quickly. Asking to remain anonymous because his views did not reflect those of the manufacturer, the assistant manager said flat rate employees can make a lot of money when they are allowed to fit in a lot of different repairs.
However, if work is slow, the techs will not be able to make much money at all with the flat rate pay.
The Toyota assistant manager added that work completed by any flat-rate employee is always checked to ensure it’s been done thoroughly and properly, albeit quickly. If a worker does repairs that need to be redone by further visits from the vehicle’s owner, then that worker can lose his job at the dealership, said the assistant manager.
When a new vehicle that is still covered by a new vehicle warranty needs repairs, most auto repair shops refer to the manufacturer’s estimated repair time, which is usually a fairly tight window. Because of this, the Toyota assistant manager said a flat rate worker could realize compensation is up to one-third less than was expected.
Jon DiGuiseppi, who manages Green’s Farms Shell Service Center on the East Coast, told Monster that he understands fast and accurate mechanics may feel they have the opportunity to make more money on a flat rate, but that many employees like the predictability of earning an hourly rate of pay.
How to File a Worker’s Right Violation Lawsuit
In California, mandatory arbitration is no longer the law for employee contracts. If you are a California flat rate employee and believe your workers’ rights may have been violated, you may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation.
Filing a lawsuit can be a daunting prospect, so Top Class Actions has laid the groundwork for you by connecting you with an experienced attorney. Consulting an attorney can help you determine if you have a claim, navigate the complexities of litigation, and maximize your potential compensation.
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31 thoughts onWhat Rights Do Automotive Technicians Have as Flat Rate Workers?
We have insurance companies stating that they only pay published labor times.THAT’S CRIMINAL AND WRONG!They only pay what I am willing to do the work for.
Same guy owns all 5 car dealers in town,is that not a monopoly and what choices do people have?And we have 2 million lawyers waiting for an ambulance to drive by.
ALL PAY MUST BE STATED CLEARLY AND AGREED TO PRIOR TO WORK BEING PERFORMED.It is not at their discretion what they will pay you afterwards.GM is using this OLH gimmick now mostly on transmission work but they only have a stated time for a base component replacement and no stated times for a complete overhaul.Rarely ever is just one component replaced,it it is usually damaged which by all standards requires the entire transmission to be completely torn down,cleaned and reassembled which is an overhaul.They claim any repairs beyond the base repair time is paid by OLH or other labor hours which is a straight time or punch time but only up to 2 hours.An overhaul by Alldata time is 21.3 hours and GM will pay you 5.4 hours if you are lucky.I have labor ops printed out same vehicle of two different repairs .12 G-van 6L80/90E torque converter hub seal replacement 4.6 hours and 6L80/90E torque converter housing replacement 4.6 hours but it is 3 times the amount of work.Chrysler dealer a cam plug in 2.7 v6 4.4 hours if looked up in the engine category but 3.4 hours in the transmission category.They are just criminals that just whittle on those times any way they feel.They are supposed to add 2 tenths to every repair so there is no such thing as a 2 tenth repair. 1 tenth is for parts acquisition and 1 tenth is for administrative duties(writing your story and flagging your time)They pay 2 tenths for a speed sensor replacement and claim the diagnosis time is included and add a transmission warranty repair check sheet on top requiring doing a bulletin and calibration update search which takes 20 minutes in itself.Youy can’t even find the keys and the car in 12 minutes!IT’S FILTHY CORRUPTED!
A few years ago when Ford first came out with the 5.4L it was blowing head gaskets.Some techs were taking an entire week to do them but Ford was only paying them 8.6 hours.Finally enough time disputes were filed that Ford got hauled into court to prove these times.Ford being the defendant has to prove these times.Of course they are going to find the fastest guy in the country to do these studies and he could only do them in 12.4 hours so the techs win,right?WRONG!Ford was not required to pay retroactive and only increase these times from that point foward but by then the head gasket issue had been solved and these vehicles were out of warranty.This set a precedence for them and they realized that they could pull these times out of their butts and it became a manageable risk.HOW DAMNED CORRUPT IS THIS COUNTRY?They aren’t allowed to dictate those times in the first place and these warranty repairs must be left open to competitive market forces or they are committing a crime!
What are information sharing programs and accounting methods? “Dealings among competitors that violate the law would still violate the law even if they were done through a trade association. For instance, it is illegal to use a trade association to control or suggest prices of members. It is illegal to use information-sharing programs, or standardized contracts, operating hours, accounting, safety codes, or transportation methods, as a disguised means of fixing prices.”
What are information sharing programs and accounting methods?”Dealings among competitors that violate the law would still violate the law even if they were done through a trade association. For instance, it is illegal to use a trade association to control or suggest prices of members. It is illegal to use information-sharing programs, or standardized contracts, operating hours, accounting, safety codes, or transportation methods, as a disguised means of fixing prices.”
Some insulation contractors were recently busted using burner phones and encrypted messaging apps just to rig 10% on pipe insulation in the Connecticut area.These car jerks have websites devoted to fixed ops emailing spreadsheets to anyone that asks and technician compensation panels at national trade shows without any technicians or representation invited and NADA is charging 80%+ gross margins on service labor,crying technician shortages as an organization and posing for publicity in front of the Whitehouse at the same time.It’s corrupt as it gets!
Do you Top Class Tards know anything about wage and price fixing laws?
“The flat rate system is meant to motivate employees to finish more jobs in a shorter amount of time in order to maximize their pay” The flat-rate system can reward productive people but it can also reward unscrupulous people.That’s not at all why that system was developed.They have progressed it into being this form of flogging by flag hours but it is 100% illegal unless the technicians are allowed to freely bid these times independent of any time books.Technicians are also allowed to write their bids in a dollar amount rather than a time amount or ask for payment in advance or COD same as anyone else in this country.ALWAYS WRITE YOUR OWN BIDS,GET THEM SIGNED BEFORE STARTING ANY REPAIRS AND KEEP COPIES.
Hello, I have a particular question I’d like to ask about who has more power over labor laws. Do the labor laws in the state that you work in outweigh the laws that are stated above? Maryland law states that employers are not required to provide breaks or even lunch breaks in an eight hour shift. I am a flat rate employee at a dealership and I do not receive overtime nor do I receive the half a day requirement if I show up to work and there is no work to be done.
Do not trust any of these labor attorneys now.Maryland’s laws cannot undermine federal laws so always refer to those first.. “Flat rate pay is only applicable in specific situations. In order to pay employees a flat rate, the employee must be employed by a retail or service establishment, the employee’s regular rate of pay must exceed one and one half times the applicable minimum wage, and more than half of the employee’s total earnings must consist of commissions on goods or services. See 29 C.F.R. §§ 779.313-.324, 779.410-.420”
The flat-rate system is supposed to be a competitive bidding process meaning that all anyone is legally allowed to do is politely ask the technician what they are willing to perform the repair/s for and either accept or decline their bids.There is no overtime in flat-rate because technicans should be able to account for such things in their bids.That is not the system we have now.Flat-rate time GUIDES are for technician reference only and they are under absolutely no legal obligation to use them at all.Back when flat-rate guides were still in paper form they were always kept in the backroom for technician use only,now that they are in electronic format and everyone has access to them they are being used illegally to fix costs,prices and wages and bypass overtime laws.Technicians cannot be forced to adhere to any book times or they are making any agreement with a third-party to fix costs,prices or wages which is collusion and a felony.It’s really corrupt now dude goodluck!
Lawyers work on the same exact system and the also have flat-rate or flat-fee services but that is only an agreement they make up front for all services start to finish otherwise is is just billed on a straight time basis.You could never walk into a lawyers office with a flat-rate book.For some weird reason none of them understand that.
I always negotiate at least a 40 hour guarantee and get it put in writing first and have been guaranteed up to 50 hours a week.Just to protect myself from being frauded out like that but it still doesn’t fully protect me because they will rob any productivity I make on one job by not paying me on another and average things out.I still feel violated regardless.Some shops are currently offering 140% on warranty but 140% of 25% is still nothing and other shops are having to pay full C/P times just to keep anyone.I always write my own bids and get management to sign them before starting any work and keep copies of everything.