Arrive Ready to Work

Employees must arrive for work before their scheduled start time and clock in at or before that time. Once you have clocked in, even if it’s 10 minutes early, you are now being paid “on the clock,” and you must begin working.

It would not be ethical to clock in and then go to the break room to eat breakfast, into the bathroom and put on makeup, outside to smoke or make a personal phone call, or chat with your coworkers for 10 minutes about where you went last night, because you are now being paid by the company for your time. After you clock in, you are on company time and should be doing only company business except during permitted breaks (15 minutes mid-morning and mid-afternoon and 30 minutes for lunch).

It is also not acceptable to park in front of the store or in the customer parking lot to rush in and clock in to avoid being tardy for work, and then go back outside on company-paid time to find acceptable parking. Please arrive with plenty of time to find suitable parking and get inside before your designated start time.

It is not permissible to take your first break right after you arrive in the morning. California labor law requires that employees get rest breaks if they work over three and a half hours a day. These mandatory breaks must be in the middle of each work period and legally must be 10 minutes for every four hours worked or fraction thereof – but our company allows 15 minutes rather than 10. Rest breaks are work time and the employee must be paid for them. Exempt employees are not subject to this law and do not have legally mandated break times. The 30-minute lunch break is unpaid.

Coffee consumption is an American tradition that cannot morally be denied, but eating breakfast, putting on your face, coiffing your hair, and getting dressed needs to be done before arriving to work and clocking in.

All the above applies to estate buyers in remote buy offices just the same as it applies to employees in San Diego. Estate buyers must arrive at the buy offices by 10:00am and are considered clocked in when the alarm system is turned off. Once you have clocked in, even if it’s 10 minutes early, you are now being paid “on the clock,” and you must begin working.