Part 1 of this series on September 2, 2026, explained California's reporting time pay rule. If your employer tells you to report for work and you do, but you get less than half your usual or scheduled day's work, you are generally owed half that day's pay — at least two hours and at most four, at your regular rate. This part covers when that rule does not apply.
The wage orders list four situations where reporting time normally would be owed might not be. (Wage Order 7-2001, § 5(C).) First, employers are not required to pay reporting time pay when operations cannot start or keep going because of threats to employees or property, or when civil authorities recommend that work not start or continue. Second, it is not owed when public utilities fail to supply electricity, water, or gas, or when there is a failure in the public utilities or the sewer system. Third, employers have an exception when the work is interrupted by an Act of God or another cause not within the employer's control. Fourth, the reporting time rule does not apply to a worker on paid standby status who is called in to do assigned work at a time other than their scheduled reporting time.
Notice how narrow that list is. An evacuation order, a citywide power failure, or a flood can excuse reporting time pay. "Business was slow," "we overscheduled," and "someone else called out" are not on the list. Those are ordinary business problems, and California's wage orders leave them with the employer and do not excuse the employer’s obligation to pay reporting time pay.
Sources: Wage Order 7: https://www.dir.ca.gov/iwc/IWCArticle7.pdf CACI No. 2754 (Reporting Time Pay): https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/caci/2700/2754/