Stockton Wage & Hour Record Keeping Lawyer

While paying employees cash “under the table” may have once been a common labor practice, today California law requires employers to keep detailed payroll records. This helps to ensure employers follow California wage and hour requirements, such as paying employees at least the minimum wage. If you have reason to believe your own employer is not maintaining a proper payroll, the Stockton wage and hour record keeping lawyers at Venardi Zurada LLP can assist you in taking appropriate legal action.

What Records Must Stockton Employers Keep?

Employers must keep payroll records in order to furnish their employees with itemized wage statements–pay stubs–with each paycheck, direct deposit, or cash payment. California law does not require employers to use any particular method or system for record keeping. While most employers today use electronic, computer-based systems, a smaller employer may still choose to keep handwritten (pen and paper) payroll records. This is legal, provided the records are “indelible,” i.e., they cannot be easily erased or altered after the fact.

In terms of content, payroll records must contain the following:

• the full name of the employee
• the employee’s Social Security number;
• the employee’s legal address;
• the employee’s birthday, if they under the age of 19;
• the employee’s sex;
• the employee’s job or occupation;
• the employee’s hours worked per day and total hours for the workweek;
• the employee’s regular rate of pay and basis for that pay (e.g., per hour, per piece);
• the employee’s regular and overtime earnings;
• any deductions made to the employee’s gross wages; and
• the date the employee was paid and the total wages paid for that period.

The California Labor Code requires employers to keep their payroll records for a period of at least 3 years. Records must be kept at the place of employment or at some other central location in California. Even if employers keep purely electronic payroll records, they still need to keep a copy of that data at some California location.

The principal reason for these record keeping requirements is to preserve potential evidence should there be a wage and hour dispute involving the employer. For example, if an employee files a complaint or lawsuit alleging they were not paid overtime, the employer must produce the payroll records showing its compliance or lack thereof. The employer cannot simply claim they “lost” the information or never bothered to keep any payroll records in the first place. Under California law, the employer can be held civilly liable–fined–if they fail to meet its record keeping obligations

Contact Our Stockton Wage and Hour Record Keeping Lawyers Today

If you are involved in a potential wage and hour dispute, it is critical to take steps to ascertain whether your employer has kept proper records. Our Stockton wage and hour record keeping lawyers are happy to review your case and advise you on what steps to take next to preserve your rights under California labor law. Call Venardi Zurada LLP today at (833) VZ FOR ME to schedule a free confidential consultation.

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