Compliance & Checklist
Your California Employment Law Compliance Guide
A practical, attorney-built checklist to help business owners avoid lawsuits, lower risk, and navigate California’s toughest labor laws with confidence.
Employment Law Compliance Guide & Checklist for California Employers
Running a business in California means managing some of the most complex and aggressively enforced employment laws in the country. One missed meal break, one misclassified worker, or one poorly handled termination can expose your company to PAGA penalties, DLSE hearings, FEHA litigation, class actions, and reputation damage.
This guide is developed from real case patterns and decades of defense experience, because most lawsuits we see could have been prevented with correct compliance and documentation.
Quick Legal Health Check
Answer “Yes” or “No” to each:
Do you have accurate written policies for wages, breaks, reimbursements, and classifications?
Are meal/rest break logs accurate, documented, and consistently followed?
Do supervisors receive FEHA-compliant anti-harassment training?
Do you track personnel-file access timelines (§1198.5)?
Are your independent contractor relationships compliant with the ABC test?
Do you document interactive process meetings for disability accommodations?
Are you using compliant wage statements (address, legal entity name, hours, rates)?
Do you have a written, up-to-date expense reimbursement policy (§2802)?
PAGA penalties
DLSE hearings
FEHA claims
Misclassification lawsuits
Class actions
Compliance Checklist for California Employers
Wage & Hour Compliance Checklist
Minimum wage compliance (state and local ordinances)
Ensures your pay rates match both California’s statewide minimum and any higher city-specific wage laws to avoid automatic penalties.
Overtime & double-time accuracy
Confirms your payroll system properly calculates daily/weekly overtime and double time, including nondiscretionary bonus allocations.
Meal period rules followed — duty-free, timely, recorded
Protects you against premium-pay claims by verifying employees receive full, uninterrupted meal breaks at the correct times.
Rest break compliance — 10-minute off-duty breaks
Ensures employees receive required off-duty rest periods that must be fully relieved of all work duties.
Reporting-time & split-shift pay
Prevents wage claims by ensuring employees are paid when shifts are cut short or split into multiple parts.
Day-of-rest compliance (Labor Code §§ 551–556)
Confirms scheduling practices provide mandated rest days to avoid statutory penalties.
Paid sick leave policy (state + local requirements)
Ensures accruals, carryover rules, and usage caps meet state and city mandatory sick leave standards.
Accurate timekeeping & rounding
Reduces exposure by validating fair, neutral rounding rules and accurate digital time tracking.
Final wage timing & waiting-time penalties (§203)
Ensures departing employees receive every penny owed on time to avoid 30-day penalty wages.
Commission agreements in writing (§2751)
Protects the company by defining when commissions are earned, due, and paid in a compliant written agreement.
Piece-rate rest & nonproductive time (§226.2)
Ensures separate pay for rest breaks and nonproductive time, preventing significant PAGA penalties.
Expense reimbursement (§2802)
Validates reimbursement for work-related costs like phones, internet, mileage, and equipment to avoid statutory liability.
Clear, correct wage statements (§226)
Ensures required data fields (hours, rates, employer name, address) are accurate to prevent $4,000 per-employee penalties.
Exempt vs. non-exempt classification
Confirms that exempt employees meet strict duties tests and salary thresholds to avoid misclassification claims.
Independent contractor compliance (ABC test)
Checks whether contractors satisfy California’s strict “A–B–C” test to avoid retroactive employee liability.
Joint employer exposure review
Protects your business from shared liability in staffing, franchise, and subcontractor relationships.
Personnel records access compliance (§1198.5)
Confirms procedures to provide personnel files within 30 days to avoid penalties and retaliation claims.
FEHA / EEO Compliance Checklist
Anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies
Ensures employees receive clear written policies that meet FEHA's mandatory protections.
Mandatory harassment training
Confirms that supervisors and employees complete the required anti-harassment training every two years.
Disability accommodation process
Validates procedures for promptly responding to accommodation requests with documented steps.
Interactive process meetings
Ensures each meeting about disability accommodations is timely, documented, and compliant with FEHA standards.
Pregnancy & CFRA leave compliance
Prevents leave-related claims by ensuring policies meet PDL, CFRA, FMLA, and lactation accommodation requirements.
Retaliation safeguards
Confirms your organization protects employees who complain or participate in investigations.
Failure-to-prevent exposure review
Verifies adequate training, investigation processes, and policy distribution to defend against “failure to prevent” claims.
Complaint investigation procedures
Ensures allegations are investigated promptly, neutrally, and with written findings.
Updated job descriptions
Helps defend disability or discrimination claims by defining essential job functions clearly.
PAGA Compliance Checklist
Updated written policies for all Labor Code areas
Ensures employees have compliant policies across wages, breaks, reimbursement, and hours, reducing PAGA triggers.
Accurate recordkeeping for time, payroll, and personnel
Prevents per-pay-period PAGA penalties by maintaining complete, accessible records.
Wage statement audit
Identifies error patterns that can escalate into mass PAGA exposure.
Final pay procedures review
Ensures employees receive timely final checks to avoid stacking penalties.
Pay equity audit
Prevents Equal Pay Act claims by verifying equal pay for substantially similar work.
Local ordinance compliance
Ensures city-specific leave, scheduling, and wage rules are followed to reduce overlapping PAGA liability."
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