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Comment by hoodoof | Hacker News Reader

It's probably not the message that a company selling payroll benefits is wanting to send to the market.

"Oh sure you can trust us to calculate your employee benefits right, that our business!"

Asking employers if employees are exempt or not is the likely cause. A common mistake employers make is assuming that if you are paid a salary, you are exempt.

In truth, if your salary is below 47k in CA, you are not exempt and entitled to overtime.

https://www.calchamber.com/california-employment-law/pages/e...

"Exempt employees in California generally must earn a minimum monthly salary of no less than two times the state minimum wage for full time employment. Paying an employee a salary does not make them exempt, nor does it change any requirements for compliance with wage and hour laws."

That's a mistake that I would hope an HR systems business would be able to avoid when it comes to their own employees...

And if the HR outsourcing company that is based in CA doesn't know about that regulation, how is a mom-and-pop shop expected to know about it?

"You had one job..." </meme>

If you write software in CA, the threshold is actually ~$88k[2] as of Jan 1, 2017 (the threshold is updated annually in accordance with a consumer price index).

[1] See section 515.5, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.x...

[2] https://www.dir.ca.gov/oprl/ComputerSoftware.pdf

Does this mean if one were to make less, overtime has to be paid, even if the work is voluntary? Thinking of employees at early stage startups

Yep. Caveats apply and consult a lawyer who knows the labor code, but yep.

Tell that to the school districts.

Teachers make way more then $42k in California. Teachers make over $80,000 on average and even get overtime pay. Now I think teachers should make this amount but just saying they are above this.

Here is a school picked at random. http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2014/school-distri...

It's not about accidental miscalculation, it's about intentionally classifying employees in dubious/illegal ways to cut down on their benefits.

they are aiming for zero benefits

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