If 7 turned out to be 10: Determining when weekly wage is due

This case is simple—straightforward and potentially contradictory language in two dueling statutes related to the date wage payment is due, allowing an employer to meet the letter if not the spirit of the code. Spoiler alert: the text will prevail.

Facts

Robert Parsons works for Estenson Logistics, LLC, which pays its employees weekly. Its pay period runs from Sunday through the following Saturday. It pays its employees on the second Monday after the end of the pay period, which is nine calendar days after the end of the pay period. If Monday is a holiday, it pays its employees on Tuesday, which is 10 calendar days after the end of the pay period. So, for example, if the pay period runs from Sunday, January 1 through Saturday, January 7, it would pay its employees on Monday, January 16, and if Monday, January 16 was a holiday, it would pay its employees on Tuesday, January 17.

Parsons filed a lawsuit and argued this practice violated Labor Code Section 204(d), which quite clearly requires that employees who are paid weekly be paid “not more than seven calendar days following the close of the payroll period.” Code of Civil Procedure section 12a provides, however, that “If the last day for the performance of any act provided or required by law to be performed within a specified period of time is a [weekend or] holiday, then that period is hereby extended to and including the next day that is not a holiday.”