California Labor Guidance
Free plain-English summaries of opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices from California's labor agency, with the current status and the official source on every page.
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Overtime phase-in for sheepherders under AB 1066
An industry association asked the Labor Commissioner's Office how to calculate overtime for sheepherders, who are paid a special monthly minimum wage under Wage Order 14 rather than an hourly rate, no…
Educational internship program (Year Up, Inc.) exempt from minimum wage
A law firm asked whether interns in Year Up, Inc.'s job-training program for underserved 18-24 year olds had to be paid as employees under California's minimum wage law. Applying the federal six-facto…
Wage requirements for camp counselors
An operator of educational overnight programs (including historic-ship stays and island camps) asked whether its counselors qualified for Labor Code section 1182.4's minimum-wage/overtime exemption fo…
Hours worked: public transit employees who start and end shifts at different locations
A union and a regional transit district jointly asked whether bus and light-rail operators who are required to end a shift at a different location from where it began must be paid for the time spent t…
Applicability of the state minimum wage to the California State University
The chief consultant to the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment asked whether the state minimum wage applies to the California State University, given an Education Code provision limiting how n…
Piece rate calculation: minimum wage tested each pay period, no averaging across periods
A legal aid attorney raised a possible misunderstanding about how DLSE calculates piece-rate pay against the minimum wage obligation. DLSE clarified its policy: piece-rate earnings can only be credite…
Whether a vocational-training participant is a minimum-wage-exempt 'trainee' turns on how much the on-site placement resembles ordinary job training
Counsel for a nonprofit serving homeless young adults asked DLSE to bless, in advance, a planned vocational program placing participants at "trainer businesses" for hands-on skills training, as exempt…
Volunteers for religious/charitable organizations aren't employees, but paid staff get no religious-organization minimum-wage exemption
A Christian Science church group asked DLSE how the Industrial Welfare Commission Orders apply to employees of church offices and attendants in Reading Rooms. DLSE explained there is no minimum-wage e…
Minimum wage as a draw against commissions, and reconciliation timing
An individual asked DLSE about paying minimum wage combined with commissions. DLSE explained that an employee covered by an Industrial Welfare Commission order must be paid at least minimum wage for e…
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These are official interpretive documents from California's labor agency: opinion letters answering questions from employers and workers, administrative policies, and interpretive notices. They show how the agency applies wage-and-hour and workplace law to real situations, but they are guidance, not statutes or court decisions, and the agency can supersede or withdraw them. Every page above shows the document's current status, when that status was last verified, and a link to the official source.