There is often a shortage of laborers in Lake County’s agricultural industry during harvest time. The pear-packing season, to cite one example, lasts only four to six weeks and coincides with a peak season for tourism, another major industry in Lake County. As a result, the pool of available workers is often limited.
“Agricultural plants in Lake County have depended on high school seniors to complete their packing schedules on time,” Senator Wiggins says. “At the same time, job opportunities for the local youth can be scarce, and the summer break offers them a chance to earn extra money by working in the packing plants. This exemption to the law helps them earn money while also contributing to the local economy.”
Under existing law, minors 16-17 years of age are normally prohibited from working more than eight hours per day and 48 hours per week. However, the provision that Senator Wiggins hopes to preserve actually authorizes the California labor commissioner to grant an exemption from this prohibition to allow Lake County youth to work up to 10 hours per day in agricultural packing plants during non-school periods during the peak harvest season.
The exemption, which is currently set to expire January 1, 2008, also authorizes the labor commissioner to permit the packing plants to employ minor students up to 60 hours per week upon prior written approval by the Lake County Board of Education.
The law also requires the commissioner to inspect working conditions at the plants which hire minors and report back to the Legislature.
The Wiggins bill, which has the support of the Lake County Sheriff Department, Lakeport Unified School District, the Board of Supervisors and the County Probation Department, would extend the labor law exemption by four years, to January 1, 2012.
Patricia Wiggins represents California’s large 2nd Senate District, which stretches from Solano to Humboldt Counties and includes Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma Counties. http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com Contact: David W. Miller (916) 651-1897
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ALERT - Fraudulent Letter
We have become aware that many corporations have received a letter from a company called 'Compliance Annual Minutes Board' in which they are asked to pay an 'annual fee' of $150 or similar amount. It is not from the State of California and it is not required to be filed. Anyone receiving such a letter should feel no obligation to respond to this letter and may disregard it. Apparently, many corporations have been deceived by this letter. The letter is official looking and is confusingly similar to the layout for the Statement of Information that must be filed each year with the State of California. Information provide by The Law Offices of Thomas Gross, http://www.svbizlaw.com
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New Ways to Maximize Efficiency
In today's world of maturing enterprise software, companies are deploying increasingly sophisticated systems to automate business processes. But according to The Hackett Group's 2005 Payroll Benchmark Findings, 52% of companies still capture basic time and attendance information via paper timecards. Time and attendance data can affect billing, compliance, and employee management. Companies that bill their customers based on time worked (such as law firms) require accurate time capture for accurate revenues. 'Companies are looking for new ways to squeeze out efficiencies from existing processes.'
The Importance of Accurate Records
Every year, government regulatory compliance rules change and are created a new. While not having specific rules for time and attendance reporting, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that all, financial data have audit trails and controls. Many states and other local jurisdictions also have requirements for accurate time reporting, over and above the federal requirements. 'In the absence of documentation, the Department of Labor will take the employee's side in any complaint,' said Angela Sanchez, an Associate Attorney in the Employment Practice Group of Oppenheimer, Blend, Harrison, and Tate, Inc. 'If the employer can't produce accurate records, the evidence won't be persuasive before an administrative hearing or judge.' A good time and attendance system helps provide that documentation.
Real-Time Data to Improve Business Operations
One of the main drawbacks of reporting from manual time and attendance systems is dealing with the dated material contained in the reports. Once managers see them, any problems they may notice can potentially be days or weeks old-often too old to solve. Modern time and attendance solutions use the power of the Internet to produce reports on any computer’s browser with real-time data. Managers can pull reports and analytics on scheduled hours versus actual hours, obtain real-time information on shifts and attendance, and analyze excessive overtime hours or tardiness with current data, so they can do something immediately to correct the problem. 'Managers can use these systems to monitor day-to-day overtime and individual labor on each project,' said Jose Gaona, Senior Product Manager for the Time and Attendance at Ceridian. 'If a project is going off-task or there's too much overtime, a manager can take immediate action to correct the problem.'
Related Applications
Time and attendance systems can also provide input data to related applications such as absence management, project management, scheduling and payroll. 'An absence-management system helps ensure the company is in compliance with both its own internal policies and government rules,' said Robert Farina, CEO of Cybershift. And rather than being thought of as disparate applications, as in the past, having one system for all these' applications shortens the learning curve. 'If a company has already rolled out a time and attendance system, using that same system to feed into absence management or scheduling means that no one has to learn an entirely new system,' said Mike DiPietro, Vice President of Product Marketing for Kronos.
We're seeing more and more companies who want visibility into task management,' Farina said. 'They want to know if they are attributing costs properly. Overall, as paper timecards and manual time recording processes fade into memory, companies should be able to find new cost savings and efficiency improvements in this critical area of payroll processing.
If you would like more information on Payroll Masters Time and Attendance Solution “TODD” please visit our website http://www.payrollmasters.com/products/time.html
Excerpts taken from PAYTECH (official publication of the American Payroll Association-http://www.americanpayroll.org), January 2007 issue, “Business Trends in Time and Attendance”, written by Laura Bray
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Last Paycheck
Employers are not required by federal law to give former employees their final paycheck immediately. Some states, however, may require immediate payment.
California law requires that you pay on the spot if the employee is terminated, you have 72 hours if the employee has quit unless they give you more than 72 hours of notice in which case you need to pay them on the spot.
If the regular payday for the last pay period an employee worked has passed and the employee has not been paid,
contact the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division or the
state labor department.
The Department also has mechanisms in place for the recovery of
back wages.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/lastpaycheck.htm
For California State Law please visit www.dir.ca.gov
DOL Web Pages on This Topic
Compliance Assistance: Last Paycheck
Coverage Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Fact Sheet
General information about who is covered by the FLSA.
State Departments of Labor Web Sites
Links to state departments of labor web sites and contact information for each department.
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Money Tips: 401k
- If you leave a company and spend your 401K money, you'll lose nearly half in taxes and penalties.
- Instead of spending the money, transfer your money directly from your old job to your new job, or to the place you set up an IRA.
- If you take a check for your retirement money, 20 percent of the money will be withheld to cover potential federal taxes, making it difficult to redeposit 100 percent of the money into an IRA account or another 410(k) plan within 60 days.
- If you think you may need the money, put it in an IRA, then withdraw only what you need.
- Use dollar-cost averaging if you're going to put your money into a stock or bond mutual fund. Put the money into a money market IRA account, then transfer the money gradually into other funds over 12 or 18 months. This protects you from the ups and downs of the market.
- If you transfer a 401(k) payout into an IRA, keep it separate from any previous or future IRA you may have. If you do, you are permitted to move it later into another company's 401(k) plan.
- If you have company stock in your 401(k) plan, meet with a CPA before you make a decision. These tip were provided by The Clark Howard Show http://clarkhoward.com/library/tips/401k.html
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Required workplace posting: http://www.dir.ca.gov/WP.asp
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