TTB Approves San Luis Obispo Coast (SLO Coast) Viticultural Area

Last week was an exciting week for producers and consumers of California Central Coast wine. On Wednesday, March 9, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (the “TTB”) published a final rule establishing a new “San Luis Obispo Coast,” or “SLO Coast,” American Viticultural Area (“AVA”).

The SLO Coast AVA (identified in orange below) spans approximately 408,505 acres in San Luis Obispo County and is home to over 50 wineries and an estimated 78 commercial vineyards covering approximately 3,942 acres. It lies entirely within the multi-county Central Coast AVA and fully encompasses the established Edna Valley and Arroyo Grande Valley AVAs.

Map of “San Luis Obispo Coast” or “SLO Coast” AVA. Image: TTB.

Located along the westernmost portion of the Central Coast AVA, the SLO Coast AVA is a region of coastal terraces, foothills, and small valleys along the Pacific Coast. Its westward orientation provides more marine fog and cool marine air compared to other regions of the Central Coast AVA, using the powerhouse of the Pacific Ocean to moderate temperatures and foster optimal vineyard conditions for growing early-to-mid-season grape varietals such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Aaron Wines in Paso Robles, CA falls within the boundaries of the new SLO Coast AVA and has planted 90% of its 4,000 planted acres within 6 miles of the Pacific Ocean. Winemaker Aaron Jackson is thrilled by the important addition of the SLO Coast AVA to the “few truly coastal AVAs” in the state of California. Brian Talley of Talley Vineyards in Arroyo Grande, CA shares Mr. Jackson’s sentiments, adding that the approval of the SLO Coast AVA will “drive awareness of the coastal part of San Luis Obispo County as a world class winegrowing region.”

The establishment of the SLO Coast AVA formally recognizes the unique topography, climate, and soils of the area and offers winemakers more diversity and flexibility in marketing their wines to consumers.

Effective April 9, 2022, vintners will be able to label bottles with “San Luis Obispo Coast,” “SLO Coast,” and “Central Coast” as appellations of origin if at least 85% of the wine is derived from grapes grown within the boundaries of the SLO Coast AVA and the wine otherwise meets the statutory requirements of 27 CFR 4.25(e)(3). Vintners producing wine from grapes grown in the Edna Valley or Arroyo Grande Valley AVAs can also continue to label bottles with “Edna Valley” or “Arroyo Grande Valley” as appellations of origin for their wines.

Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty has represented a number of AVA petitioners before the TTB, including the SLO Coast petitioners. For more information on AVA petitions and labeling compliance, please contact Carol Kingery Ritter or John Trinidad.

Regular Rate Blues: California Supreme Court’s Decision on Premium Payments and Other Pay Practice Reminders

On July 15, 2021, the California Supreme Court decided in Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC that employers must pay premium payments to employees for missed meal, rest, and recovery breaks at the employee’s “regular rate of pay” instead of the employee’s base hourly rate, as many employers were doing. The ruling is retroactive, and employers should audit their practices to determine if a true-up payment is necessary.

Under California wage and hour laws, an employer must provide and permit nonexempt employees who work more than five hours in a day an unpaid duty-free meal period of at least 30 minutes in length starting no later than the end of the fifth hour of work. Employees who work no more than six hours in a day may waive the meal period upon written agreement between the company and the employee. In addition, nonexempt employees who work at least three and one-half hours in a day must be provided and permitted a paid 10-minute duty-free rest period for every four hours of work or major fraction thereof, and a second rest period if working up to six hours a day. Employees who work outdoors are entitled to cool-down recovery periods in fixed, shaded areas whenever needed to prevent heat illness.

If an employer doesn’t provide compliant meal, rest, or recovery periods, the employer must pay the employee one additional hour of pay as a “premium” for each workday that the meal, rest or recovery period was not provided. (Labor Code § 226.7.) Before the recent ruling, it was unclear whether this premium should be paid at the employee’s base hourly rate or their “regular rate of pay” which includes all nondiscretionary incentive payments such as bonuses and commissions. The Court settled this issue: the premium must be paid at the regular rate of pay, not the base rate. This is bad news for employers that acted in good faith by paying premium pay at the base hourly rate.

How To Calculate “Regular Rate of Pay”

Regular rate calculation requires employers to include all compensation for hours worked and divide that number by the total hours worked. “All compensation” includes hourly wages, nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials, on-call pay, and commissions. In general, most bonuses are considered nondiscretionary and include any bonus that employees know about and expect such as: production bonuses, bonuses for quality of work, bonuses to induce employees to work more efficiently, attendance bonuses, and safety bonuses. Thus, if nonexempt employees are paid a commission, non-discretionary bonus, or other incentive payment, such payment must be factored into the employees’ regular rate in order to compute any applicable overtime or break premium compensation.

Different Rule for Flat Sum Bonus: Note that California law requires the use of a different rule for calculating “regular rate of pay” when employees earn a non-discretionary, flat sum bonus. A flat sum bonus is typically a bonus paid for working a shift that is not tied to any measure of production or efficiency, for example a flat sum bonus for working on a weekend. When calculating the regular rate of pay from a flat sum bonus, the bonus is divided by only the regular, non-overtime hours worked in the workweek instead of all hours.

For examples showing regular rate calculations you can review the Labor Commissioner’s website here.

When To Use Regular Rate

The regular rate of pay is used when calculating overtime, California paid sick leave (see sick leave section below) and now meal and rest pay premiums.

Overtime “True Up” Calculations

If the employees’ bonus or commission is paid out on a weekly basis, the calculation is simple and the additional pay is added to all other wages earned in the workweek and then divided by the total hours worked in that workweek to come up with the regular rate. However, the majority of bonuses and commissions are not paid on a weekly basis and are more often earned and calculated on a monthly or quarterly basis.

If employees earn nondiscretionary bonuses or commissions on a monthly, quarterly, or other non-weekly basis, the amount of the bonus or commission earned must be spread out over the period it was earned by the employee for purposes of the overtime calculation. Employers must apportion the bonus or commission payments to each workweek during the period the amount was earned on a pro rata basis. Once that is done, employers must then recalculate any additional overtime amounts that may be owed over the period the bonus or commissions was earned, and “true up” the amount by paying the employee the difference.

The true up process for overtime or premium payments should be done whenever the bonus or commission payments are made to employees. Any additional overtime or premium amount owed to employees should be paid at the same time as the bonus or commission or in the following pay period. If you have questions regarding the method of calculating the regular rate or “truing up” payments, you should work with legal counsel to ensure employees are being compensated appropriately.

Paid Sick Leave Pay for Hourly Employees Is Also Regular Rate

An often-overlooked provision of California’s paid sick leave law is that the rate of pay for paid sick leave for hourly (non-exempt) employees is also the regular rate, not the straight hourly rate of employees. This is different than how an employer usually pays vacation or PTO time, so it can often slip by even the most seasoned of HR professionals and payroll personnel.

Nonexempt employees must be paid their regular non-overtime hourly rate for the amount of time taken as paid sick leave. To determine the rate of pay for nonexempt employees taking sick leave, the employer may either:

• Calculate the regular rate of pay for the workweek in which the employee used paid sick leave, whether or not they actually worked overtime in that workweek (see above; this is calculated like the “flat sum” bonus), or
• Divide your total compensation for the previous 90 days (excluding overtime premium pay) by the total number of non-overtime hours worked in the full pay periods of the prior 90 days of employment

For exempt employees, paid sick leave is calculated in the same manner the employer calculates wages for other forms of paid leave time (for example, vacation pay or PTO).

Take Away

This is a good time for employers to review their pay practices and contact their legal counsel to determine what, if any, corrections should be made. Because the ruling is retroactive, there may be an increase in litigation surrounding meal and rest breaks. It is important to be proactive in evaluating risk.

If you have any questions about this or any other employment related matters contact Sarah Hirschfeld-Sussman or anyone on the DP&F Employment Team.

ABC Launches New Online Portal for Mandatory Alcohol Beverage Server Training

The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) has launched a new Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) portal to provide mandatory alcohol beverage service training and certification.

Under the Responsible Beverage Services Training Act, starting on July 1, 2022, all California licensees with on-premise consumption privileges (including bars, restaurants, and wineries, breweries, and distilleries with tasting rooms) must require all alcohol beverage servers and managers to attend responsible beverage service training. All servers and managers in licensees’ employment as of July 1, 2022, must attend this training and pass an online RBS exam by August 30, 2022. If any servers or managers were hired after July 1, 2022, then they must attend training and pass the RBS exam within 60 days after their hire date.

The ABC designed the RBS portal to be a one-stop shop for servers, managers, licensees, and RBS trainers and provides customized access based on user roles. Servers and managers can use the RBS portal to register as servers with the ABC, search for approved training providers, and, after completing training, take an alcohol server certification exam on the RBS portal. Licensees can soon use the RBS portal to confirm server certification and maintain online records. In addition, prospective RBS trainers who will provide training to servers on safe and responsible beverage service can submit their applications using the RBS portal.

The purpose of the mandatory training is to provide licensees, servers, and managers with tools and knowledge to promote responsible consumption and community safety and to reduce underage drinking, including by educating trainees on alcohol beverage control laws and on the impact of alcohol on the body.

All licensees with on-sale privileges should become familiar with the RBS portal and begin preparing their servers and managers to meet the training and certification deadlines above. Although the RBS training does not become mandatory until July 1, 2022, servers may use the RBS portal to search for RBS training providers and take the online certification exam now. There is no harm in fulfilling RBS training and certification requirements before July 1, 2022, so servers may want to register and complete their requirements on the RBS portal sooner rather than later. The RBS portal is available here. For any specific questions, please reach out to Bahaneh Hobel (Head of Alcohol Beverage Law) or Michael Mercurio (Law Clerk).