Title: Exempt employees required to turn in timecards.
A company requires exempt employees to turn in timecards. Is there a CA labor law about this?
Hi Joy,
Thank you for your question. There is no specific labor law that addresses whether an employer is allowed to require exempt employees to track their time. In these kinds of situations, employees should usually play it safe and comply with the employer’s reasonable work requirements—assuming, of course, that they value their job more than they dislike the inconvenience of tracking their time.
In general, employment in California is a matter of contract law. The employer and employee can agree to participate in an employment relationship under any lawful terms to which they both agree. If either party doesn’t like it, they are usually free to terminate the employment relationship—unless they are prohibited by contract or law from doing so. (Labor Code, § 2922 [employment in California is presumptively at-will].)
This means that employers are generally permitted to impose any job-related requirements on their employees while they are at work, as long as that requirement is both: (1) not unlawful, and (2) a reasonable requirement of the employer related to its business. (See American Federation of Labor v. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd. (1994) 23 Cal.App.4th 51, 56, 63 [implying that state constitutional rights might be at stake if a job requirement was unreasonable or not business related].)
If the employee doesn’t like the job-related requirement, they can quit or refuse to perform the job-related requirement. If the employee refuses to perform the job-related requirement, the employer can terminate the employment relationship (i.e., the employer can fire the employee) or punish the employee in some lawful way.
As I mentioned before, there is no law that prohibits employers from requiring exempt employees to track their time. So, the only real question is whether requiring an exempt employee to track their time is a reasonable requirement of the employer related to its business. I can think of several reasons why timecards might be useful for an employer, even though the employees are exempt:
- The employer might want to make sure your attendance is acceptable.
- The employer might want to make sure you’re not overworked.
- The employer might use that data to determine discretionary bonuses or pay raises.
- The employer might want to make sure that you’re being provided all of your required meal breaks.
- The employer might want to have that data available in the event of a wage and hour lawsuit.
I’m sure there are many other reasons for an employer to impose that requirement. As such, it seems as reasonable to me as any other job-related rule (like, say, a dress code).
tl;dr – If one of your job duties is to track your time, I think it would be a good idea to diligently follow your company’s rules in that regard.
I hope this information helps. If you would like to learn more about at-will employment in California, check out our article on the subject: What “At-Will” Employment Means Under California Law.
Please remember that this information does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on. Nor does it create an attorney-client relationship.
I wish you the best of luck in your situation!