Show up. Get paid — even if there's no work.
California's 'reporting time pay' under IWC Wage Orders requires that workers who report to work as scheduled — but are sent home early or given less work than scheduled — be paid at least half their scheduled hours, with a minimum of 2 hours and maximum of 4 hours of pay. The rule applies even on the worker's first scheduled time of day; a worker scheduled for 8 hours but sent home after 1 hour earns 4 hours of pay (the cap).
Reporting Time Pay
Auto-calculates reporting time pay when workers are sent home before completing their scheduled shift. Pays 50% of scheduled hours (2-hour minimum, 4-hour maximum) at the regular rate.
What the rule does when a worker is sent home early.
The hero card configuration: Flag on early dismissal detection, Critical on premium calculation. Here's what each does at runtime.
When a worker clocks out before completing their scheduled shift AND is not voluntarily leaving early, Teambridge flags the dismissal. The flag triggers reporting time pay calculation.
When the dismissal is employer-initiated (no work, slow day, etc.), the timesheet auto-calculates reporting time pay: minimum of 2 hours pay, capped at half the scheduled hours up to 4 hours. The pay is at the worker's regular rate.
Deploy reporting time pay in your Teambridge.
Tell us about your workforce. We'll spin up California's reporting time pay calculation — alongside the other 20 California policies — in a sandbox tenant.
Show-up insurance for hourly workers.
Reporting time pay protects workers from the cost of showing up to a shift that doesn't materialize — transportation, childcare, lost income from another opportunity. The trade-off: predictable wages for predictable scheduling.
50% of scheduled hours, 2-4 hour band
If scheduled for 4 hours, you get 2 hours pay (50%, hits min). If scheduled 8 hours and sent home after 1, you get 4 hours pay (50% of 8 = 4, hits max). If scheduled 6 hours and sent home after 4, no reporting time pay because you worked >50%.
Worker-initiated departures don't trigger
If the worker asks to leave early, no reporting time pay is owed. The protection is for employer-initiated truncation. Documentation matters — manager dashboards should record whether the early departure was worker-requested or employer-initiated.
Teambridge tracks the dismissal reason and applies the right calculation.
Reporting time pay is one of the easier rules to game (claiming the worker 'asked to leave'). Teambridge requires the dismissal reason to be logged, making evasion harder.
Variance from schedule flagged.
When a worker clocks out before completing their scheduled hours (more than 30 minutes early), Teambridge surfaces a variance dialog: 'Why is the worker leaving early?' The reason is logged.
Worker-initiated vs. employer-initiated.
The variance reason is classified: worker-requested (no premium), employer-initiated (premium), or qualifying exception (no premium, with documentation). The classification drives the payroll calculation.
50% rule applied.
If employer-initiated, Teambridge calculates 50% of scheduled hours, applies the 2-4 hour band, and tags the difference between actual hours worked and reporting time pay owed.
Reporting time pay separate line.
On the wage statement, reporting time pay appears as a separate line item — distinct from regular wages — so it's traceable for audit and clear to the worker.
Still evaluating? Get a free California compliance audit.
Send us your existing California scheduling and pay configuration. Our compliance team returns a written audit within 5 business days — every California-specific exposure ranked by risk and back-pay liability.