Navigating Complex Compliance Requirements with Rhumbix

Who We Are

Rhumbix is a leading construction technology company dedicated to streamlining field operations through innovative digital solutions for front line crews. Our mission is to empower construction professionals by providing real-time data and insights that enhance productivity, ensure compliance, and improve overall workflow efficiency. By digitizing and automating traditional paper-based and disconnected digital processes, Rhumbix helps construction teams save time, reduce errors, and make more informed decisions and drive better project outcomes. 

Wage Order 16 of the California Industrial Welfare Commission

California Wage Order 16 is part of a complex set of requirements governing wages, hours, and working conditions in the construction industry. Among many of its requirements are the need for employers to assure meals and breaks periods are taken at specific times, and that records are kept confirming compliance. Compliance with these requirements is crucial as the penalties for non-adherence, including or an absence of acceptable record keeping, can be very onerous. 

Key Requirements of California Wage Order 16

1. Meals and Break Timing and Durations

Employers are required to provide workers with meal and rest periods of a certain duration at specific times during a work day. If meal periods are not provided at the correct times the employees are entitled to an hour of premium time in addition to their normal wages. 

2. Record Keeping & Reporting 

California law also requires that employers keep written records (1) when the employee begins and ends each daily work period and any split shift intervals (e.g., daily start and stop times); and (2) when an employee starts and stops each meal period

3. Issues for Contractors in the Event of Non-Compliance

As noted above, California law requires that employers maintain accurate records to reflect the beginning and end of each daily work period. The failure to maintain these records has significant consequences. Under California law, an employers’ failure to maintain accurate records of hours worked allows the employee to establish “by reasonable inference” the hours actually worked.

Because record keeping and meal periods policies typically apply generally to all construction workers in the field, they are ripe for class actions—a single disgruntled worker sues his employer and brings claims not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of all the company’s other workers. Due to the substantial liability that attaches, coupled with the high cost of defending these challenging lawsuits if proper records are not maintained, the vast majority of these cases resolve through settlement.

The cost of litigating and settling these class actions can be very onerous, time-consuming and distracting for construction companies, and can be very difficult to mitigate in the absence of reliable documentation. 

The Benefits of Rhumbix

1. Risk Mitigation

Rhumbix helps with risk mitigation by providing intuitive mobile tools and workflows that capture the data necessary to achieve compliance with Wage Order 16 and protect yourself from claims. Comprehensive web-based tools make it easy to view and assess your data and confirm that meal and break requirements have been met. 

2. Operational Efficiency

Rhumbix includes reports and dashboards designed to highlight timekeeping data exceptions that create risk. Rather than searching through hundreds of records, simply review the exceptions flagged by our reporting engine and manage the non-compliant events. 

3. Records and Reporting Confidence

Employees can review and approve their timekeeping data daily to confirm their hours and meals and breaks data have been documented correctly. Rhumbix generates weekly timecards with all the data needed to meet reporting and record keeping requirements, ensuring that in the event of an audit, you are protected with all the necessary backup.

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