FREE CONSULT
ALL FIELDS REQUIRED*
FREE CONSULT
NO RECOVERY NO FEE
Posted on May 19, 2025 | By Omid Nosrati | Employment Law
While some employees may work fixed hours every week, others face varying schedules every day. This is because many industry jobs are reliant on customer and patient activity. Slow days at a business or healthcare facility often cause managers to send employees home early or call them off completely. This can heavily impact an employee who was relying on that shift to help pay their bills. California’s 4-hour minimum shift law addresses this very issue.
Luckily, California’s 4-hour minimum shift law helps to protect employees who lose some or all of their shifts by providing them with minimum pay. With a Los Angeles, CA, wage and hour lawyer, you can ensure your rights are protected.
While legal protocols, terminology, and proceedings can be confusing, it does not have to stay that way. Hiring a lawyer from the Nosratilaw, A Professional Law Corporation team can make a huge difference in both your case and your overall experience. We make it our goal to help you pursue justice and any other desired outcome you may have.
Instead of getting bogged down by unfamiliar territory, allow us to serve as a guide, explaining every step of your case proceedings and answering any potential questions you may have. Before you reach out, however, you may appreciate learning a bit more about California’s 4-hour minimum shift law, as well as how it may directly impact your workplace experience. Learn about the rights granted to employees through the 4-hour minimum law below. Learn about the rights granted to employees through the 4-hour minimum law below.
While sometimes referred to as the “4-hour minimum shift” law, this piece of legislation goes by multiple names. You may often hear it called the “reporting time pay” law or “show-up pay” law as well. Regardless of what name is used, the ultimate goal of this law is to secure compensation for a California employee who is called in but works less than half of their normal shift.
This helps to encourage smarter scheduling on your employer’s behalf. If an employee is called in and does not receive their scheduled amount of work, their employer must pay for at least half of their assigned shift. If the employer fails to give show-up pay, this is a wage violation.
Reporting time pay is available to nonexempt employees who meet one or more of the following requirements:
You rely on the money you make by working, and when you are unjustly denied the hours you expected to have, it can result in a plethora of unwanted, negative results in your life. You may be unable to pay rent, buy food, or pay essential bills on time. According to the 2023 U.S. Census, 13.9% of the Los Angeles County population is living below the poverty line. For these people and many others, every check is imperative.
This is why we at Nosratilaw, A Professional Law Corporation, take minimum shift time laws so seriously. They directly impact necessary aspects of your life, making the violation of these laws unethical, abusive, and unjust. While there are some very specific workplace anomalies that allow for the cancellation or deferment of your shift, it is important to know what rights you have, as it can help protect you from suffering if and when said rights are violated.
While show-up pay is now a requirement of California law, there are some circumstances where an employee may not be eligible to receive it. If one of the following applies to your situation, you will not be given reporting time pay:
Utility emergencies are unpredictable and can happen at any time. Because they affect the business as a whole and are not a direct result of business activity, being sent home or called off because of a utility emergency is not a valid reason to receive show-up pay.
Examples of utility emergencies include:
It is also possible that, in our technologically advancing world, you may be called off work if there is no access to the necessary Wi-Fi. Many businesses rely upon a Wi-Fi network to accept payment, finalize documents, and even operate machinery. Once the Wi-Fi and/or power has been restored, however, your employer will no longer have a legal reason to deny you the right to work the remainder of your previously scheduled shift.
Sometimes public authorities will take it upon themselves to tell businesses to stay closed. Because this usually happens during emergencies, you’re not eligible for reporting time pay if your business had to close because of public notice. For example, when the pandemic was at its peak, many businesses were told they had to close for quarantine if one or more of their employees caught COVID.
While this may negatively impact your overall paycheck, it does, unfortunately, happen every so often. Once the public notice has been altered or rescinded, however, your employer has to give you the option of working your shift, as they are no longer bound to the health, safety, and legality of whatever the public safety that was previously issued concerned.
If you are sent home or called out of work because there are immediate threats to your safety or the safety of your workplace, you cannot receive show-up pay. This is because an employer does not have any control over the threats that are taking place and has to close their business as a form of protection.
Examples of safety threats include, but are not limited to, the following:
According to California wage laws, if an “Act of God” or issue that is out of an employer’s control occurs, they do not have to pay their employees show-up wages. An “Act of God” is defined as any kind of natural disaster or unpredictable event that is beyond human control. This means that if your work closes due to a hurricane or earthquake, your employer is not required to offer reporting time pay.
California has faced wildfires and earthquakes often enough during the course of its known history that it is possible you may be unable to go to work because of a natural disaster. While the nature is diverse and the coastline is beautiful, the varying topography can invite a wide variety of natural disasters to break out across the vastness of California. It is good to be prepared in the event of this happening, as well as to be aware that it may impact your regular workplace routine and ability to go to work.
Whether or not your case settles outside of the California court system, there are many ways that a minimum shift time lawyer can help you build and present your case as you pursue your preferred outcomes. Civil cases are capable of settling outside of court, and your lawyer can work to negotiate on your behalf, presenting any potential injustices you have suffered and doing everything in their power to seek damages for said injustices.
It is possible that you will not be able to settle with your employer outside of the courts, which means that there is still the potential that you may find yourself in need of a court date to further pursue a resolution for your case. This is another reason that you may find hiring a minimum shift time lawyer beneficial. Not only will they be able to help you with initial negotiations and/or litigation, but they can also build and present your case in a court of law if such action is required.
Depending on what area of Los Angeles is most conveniently located for you, your case may be carried out in the Los Angeles Superior Court – Stanley Mosk Courthouse, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California – Western Division, or one of the additional locations of the Los Angeles Superior Court, such as the Santa Monica or the Van Nuys courthouses. Your lawyer will be able to help you prepare for your appointment, as well as any potential trial proceedings you may be called to partake in.
In addition to courthouse scheduling questions, your minimum shift time lawyer will be able to help you acquire answers for the many other things you may be confused and/or curious about. Legal jargon, proceedings, and protocol can be exceptionally complex, especially if this is your first time interacting with the California legal system. Your lawyer will expect this and can adjust their approach to help you accordingly.
If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, the team of lawyers at Nosratilaw, A Professional Law Corporation, can help. We truly believe in walking alongside you from the moment you enter our office to the day your case is resolved. We also believe in applying compassion and caring insight to every interaction we have with you as we work to help you accomplish your desired outcomes. Seeking justice can be an emotional undertaking, and we are more than happy to help you pursue peace of mind, as well as compensation.
Unlike other types of benefits, reporting time pay in California is equal to your assigned pay rate. This means that if your employer gives you “show-up pay,” it should be equal to your hourly wages plus any commissions or bonuses. If they’re receiving reporting time pay, an employee can be given anything from a minimum pay equal to 2 hours of work to a maximum pay equal to 4 hours of work.
Many workers who receive show-up pay are unsure whether the hours they were paid for count as actual shift time. In California, reporting time pay is meant to act as a punishment for employers who schedule their workers poorly and don’t compensate them. This means that you are being paid due to a penalty on their behalf, not because of the actual work that you performed. Because show-up pay is a form of compensation not based on formal work time, the hours you are paid for do not count towards your overtime.
Because California allows employers to control their businesses quite freely, there are no laws that dictate the minimum hours an employee has to work. For example, this means that if your employer believes it is beneficial, they can schedule you for two hours per day if they want to. There is no “minimum” shift length or specific amount of hours you must work to be compensated fairly.
As defined by the California Department of Industrial Relations, a split shift is simply a shift that is broken up by non-working time. Split shifts are most common in the service industry, where servers are often asked to come in for the morning rush and then come back for dinner service. For a shift to be considered split, there must be a period of time when the employee is asked to be off the clock for longer than 30 minutes.
Knowing your rights as an employee while trying to understand complex wage laws can be difficult. If you’re dealing with any sort of employment law issue, ranging from wage and hour violations to discriminatory behaviors, don’t wait to speak to an employment lawyer who cares. Contact Nosratilaw, A Professional Law Corporation, for effective employment law aid here in Los Angeles.
Our legal team will do everything within its power to help protect you from further injustices while working toward compensation for the mistreatment you have already suffered. You deserve to feel respected in your place of employment, and you should also be able to, for the most part, rely upon your scheduled shifts. Barring unique circumstances, you have the legal right to earn money and work the hours you need to do so. Nosratilaw, A Professional Law Corporation, believes in helping you maintain this right.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation and see what a difference we can make in your workplace.
