The California Supreme Court recently ruled on a class action case involving wage claims by contractors hired for services at a privately owned solar power facility (Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors). The decision came about after the Ninth Circuit presented three questions, to which the following answers were given:

·     Hours worked for an employee on their employer's premises, including time spent waiting and going through an exit procedure, must be compensated. This includes vehicle inspections, which are now considered part of the workday.

·     Compensable travel time between security gates and employee parking lots is determined by whether the security gate was the initial work-related destination.

·     Even if covered by a collective bargaining agreement with an unpaid meal period, time on-premises or in a designated area must still be counted as hours worked if employees are not allowed to leave or engage in personal activities.

This ruling is important to consider when budgeting for call and wrap times on “Report-To” or “Nearby” locations, as time spent accessing the work location must be considered work time.