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Labor/Employment

May 5, 2026

California's wage and hour crackdown and how to avoid costly violations

As California's employment enforcement landscape grows increasingly aggressive, employers must prioritize proactive audits, updated timekeeping policies, and continuous compliance monitoring to navigate the state's unforgiving wage and hour laws heading into 2026.

Chelsea Zwart

Shareholder
Segal McCambridge

Email: CZwart@SMSM.com

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California's wage and hour crackdown and how to avoid costly violations
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California's employment law landscape continued its rapid evolution throughout 2025, marked by expanded worker protections, increased data‑driven enforcement and aggressive wage‑and‑hour investigations across multiple industries. As employers move toward Q3 of 2026, they should reexamine their current internal policies and procedures for timekeeping, reestablish employee awareness of these policies and evaluate whether the audit strategies in pla...

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