Compensation and Benefits
Compensation items test precision about what enters the regular rate and which pay obligations are statutory rather than contractual.
Start with exemption: California requires the salary-basis test, the duties test, and a salary of at least twice the state minimum wage. Computer professionals and outside sales employees have specialized tests, and inside commissioned sales employees in a retail or mercantile establishment have a limited overtime exemption. Alternative workweeks require a two-thirds secret-ballot vote and disclosure to new hires.
The regular rate - the base for overtime - includes hourly pay, shift differentials, commissions, and nondiscretionary bonuses, and excludes discretionary bonuses, expense reimbursements, and most gifts.
California's Equal Pay Act bars pay differentials for substantially similar work based on sex, race, or ethnicity, with defenses for seniority, merit, quantity or quality of production, and a bona fide factor. SB 1162 requires pay scales in postings (15 or more employees) and pay data reporting (100 or more).
On benefits, California cannot regulate ERISA plans directly, but it mandates CalSavers for employers with 5 or more employees that lack a retirement plan. State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave (8 weeks) are EDD wage-replacement programs, not job-protection statutes - job protection comes from FMLA, CFRA, or PDL.
Trap: treating a bonus as outside the regular rate, or assuming PFL guarantees reinstatement.
Worked example: an employee earns $20/hour, works 50 hours, and receives a $100 nondiscretionary bonus. Regular rate = ($20 x 50 + $100) / 50 = $21.00. The overtime premium is 10 x 0.5 x $21 = $105, on top of straight time for all hours.