Please visit CDHA's Labor Law page
​for more details on California Labor Laws pertaining to RDHs by clicking here. 

Register for the upcoming Labor Law Webinar hosted by CDHA
on Thursday, August 14, 2025
from 7pm-9pm, PT. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Labor Law Resource Links for RDHs:

• QUESTION: Can an employer send me home early if there are no patients or no shows?
  ANSWER: It depends what their legally compliant employment letter or contract says.  For an hourly employee without a contract of any type, the answer is yes they can be sent home early and not expect to be paid for a full day.
• QUESTION: Can an employer send me home early and ask me to come back later in the same day? (Hourly employees as noted above)
  ANSWER: Yes. However, anything over 61 minutes in between shifts would trigger the Reporting Time Pay statutes.
• QUESTION: Can an employer make me take my vacation?
  ANSWER: Yes.  However, an employer cannot make you take your PSL (Paid Sick Leave).
• QUESTION: Can an employer pay me out my vacation at the end of each year….even though I don’t want them to?
  ANSWER: Yes.
• QUESTION: Are RDHs considered Independent Contractors?
  ANSWER: NO - RDH are generally classified as “employees” by the IRS, the DIR, and the EDD. Just because an employer says you are an “independent contractor” doesn’t make it so.
• QUESTION: Are RDHs "non-exempt" employees?
  ANSWER: Yes - Dental hygienists are non-exempt employees and are entitled to all basic rights of an employee under the law.

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California Paid Sick Leave - www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/paid_sick_leave.htm

California Independent Contractor - www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_IndependentContractor.htm
​
The Laws Relating to the Time, Manner and Payment of Wages - www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/LawsTimeMannerPaymentWages.pdf