Pay Schedule Is Set by Law --and by Your Employer

Q: Is there a law requiring companies to pay employees by certain dates? I get paid on the 1st and 16th of the month. But when those dates fall on a weekend, I have to wait until the following Monday. This can be really inconvenient, especially with dates such as Jan. 1. Since it was a holiday, I had to wait until Jan. 4 to get paid.

--S.S., San Diego

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A: Exempt employees (managers, executives or administrators) must be paid monthly on or before the 26th of the month immediately following the month in which the labor was performed. Contractual agreements may provide arrangements for more frequent pay.

Employees who are nonexempt must be paid at least semi-monthly. Workers who are on the job between the 1st and 15th days of a calendar month are to be paid between the 16th and 26th day of the same month. Labor performed between the 16th and last day of the month shall be paid between the 1st and 10th day of the following month.

Thus, it may be appropriate for your employer to pay you on Jan. 4 for work performed the preceding two weeks, depending on whether you are exempt or nonexempt.

In the future, if it is going to be inconvenient for you to be paid later, simply ask your employer for an earlier payment. The company might accommodate you.

--Don D. Sessions

Employee rights attorney

Mission Viejo

Reimbursement for Car Expenses

Q: I am required to run errands for the office. Is my employer obligated to offer me some sort of insurance coverage and to reimburse me for mileage?

--S.C., Los Angeles

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A: Yes. California law requires employers to reimburse employees for all necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their job duties.

Where employees use their own vehicles to run job-related errands, employers are obligated to reimburse them for car expenses.

This can take the form either of a negotiated car allowance or a per-mile reimbursement at the current IRS mileage rate.

This reimbursement covers fuel, maintenance, wear and tear and insurance. Thus, if you have an accident on a work-related errand and your vehicle is damaged, you would need to submit the claim to your own insurance carrier, although your employer might be liable for your deductible.

If you were injured in such an accident, your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance would cover your personal injuries.

--James J. McDonald Jr.

Attorney, Fisher & Phillips

Labor law instructor, UC Irvine

Quitting Before Becoming Vested

Q: What happens to the money put into a retirement fund for a worker if the employee does not stay with the company long enough to become vested?

--G.D., Upland

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A: Although you did not say, I assume that you are working for a nongovernmental employer.

If an employee does not stay employed with the company long enough to become vested (earning the right to receive the benefit under the plan), the non-vested portion of the employee’s benefit is forfeited.

The plan must specify how the forfeited funds are to be used. Generally, they are used to increase benefits for other participants, reduce future employer contributions to the plan or pay the plan’s administrative costs. But in no event is the forfeited amount returned to the employer simply because the employee leaves before becoming vested.

--Kirk F. Maldonado

Employee benefits attorney

Riordan & McKinzie

Job in Question After Medical Leave

Q: One week after I took a medical leave of absence from work, my boss cleaned out my locker and took my name off the employee phone list. Do I return to work or have I been terminated? Do I contact an attorney?

--J.K., Corona

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A: You need to ask your boss if you still have a job.

If the company has 50 or more employees and you worked there for at least one year, your leave of absence may have been covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act. If so, you cannot be discriminated against for having taken the leave.

You also may not be discriminated against for taking workers’ compensation leave or a leave (of up to four months) because of a disability because of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.

You should contact an attorney if you believe your employment was terminated because you took protected leave.

--Deborah C. Saxe

Management attorney

Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe

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If you have a question about an on-the-job situation, please mail it to Shop Talk, Los Angeles Times, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or e-mail it to shoptalk@latimes.com. Include your initials and hometown. The Shop Talk column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.