Are you still on the clock in California if your workday is over but you are still waiting to pass an employer-mandated security inspection before heading home? 

Yes, under certain conditions, the California Supreme Court said last month in its ruling in Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors. The opinion follows similar worker-friendly rulings by the court. In 2020 the court said Apple needed to pay employees for bag searches after the end of their shifts and in 2018 it ruled Starbucks hourly workers were owed pay for short periods of off-the-clock work to close the store, for example.

George Huerta was hired by a subcontractor to assist CSI Electrical Contractors (CSI), which provides “procurement, installation, construction, and testing services” at the California Flats Solar Project, a facility owned by First Solar Electric, Inc. Huerta was told the “Security Gate” was the first place he needed to be each morning, but the gate was a 10-to-15 minute drive from the site’s parking lot. When he left work each day, inspections at the Security Gate caused delays up to 30 minutes.

In addition to not being paid for the time it took for him to enter and leave the site, Huerta was also not paid for his meal periods. His employment was governed by two collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that included a daily unpaid 30-minute meal period, but CSI did not allow workers to leave the site during the workday.

Huerta filed a wage and hour class action seeking payment for unpaid hours worked that made its way to the Ninth Circuit, which sought answers from the California Supreme Court to several specific questions about what “hours worked” are under the Wage Order:

• First, when an employee is required to spend time on his employer’s premises awaiting and undergoing an employer-mandated exit security procedure that includes the employer’s visual inspection of the employee’s personal vehicle, is the time compensable as “hours worked”? 
• Second, is the time that an employee spends traveling between the Security Gate and the employee parking lots compensable as “employer-mandated travel” if the Security Gate is the first location where the employee’s presence is required for an employment related reason?
• Third, when an employee is covered by a collective bargaining agreement and that agreement provides for an “unpaid meal period,” is that time nonetheless compensable under the wage order as “hours worked” if the employer prohibits the employee from leaving the employer’s premises?

The court answered “yes” as to all three questions, citing Morillion v. Royal Packing Co.: “An employee who is subject to the control of an employer does not have to be working during that time to be compensated under the applicable wage order. Likewise, an employee who is suffered or permitted to work does not have to be under the employer’s control to be compensated, provided the employer has or should have knowledge of the employee’s work.” 

At Keller Grover, we advocate for workers in all industries to be fairly compensated under California and federal wage and hour laws. If you are working off-the-clock without being paid, contact us today for a free and confidential consultation.