California: Payroll Service Providers Not Liable for Payroll Violations
APPLIES TO All Employers with CA Employees |
EFFECTIVE February 7, 2019 |
QUESTIONS? Contact HR On-Call |
In Goonewardene v. ADP, Inc., the California Supreme Court recently stated that a third-party payroll service provider could not be held liable for errors the service made in issuing paychecks to employees of the company it provides service to. There, an employee sued both her employer and ADP, its payroll processing service, for wage and hour violations, including failure to provide adequate documentation and records, wrongful termination, breach of contract, and negligence, among others. The former employee argued that she was a third-party beneficiary of the contract between ADP and her employer, and that ADP had been negligent in providing payroll services for her benefit.