Where the 15% PAGA cap meets the solo post.
MicroForensics, built for California private patrol operators whose solo posts make duty-free breaks structurally hard — where the defense rides on the on-duty meal agreement and its records. Runs on top of the WinTeam, TrackTik, or Silvertrac data your officers already produce, pairing patrol telemetry with a signed wage record. No new software at the post. Reviewed by named California labor counsel.
Request a discovery call→For the full MicroForensics walkthrough — statute math, cap delta, four-pillar architecture — see the parent page. This page covers the industry-specific shape.
Three structural reasons contract-security PAGA exposure rises in 2026–2027.
The solo post makes compliant breaks structurally hard.
A guard alone at a post cannot take a duty-free meal without rover relief. The lawful fallback is the on-duty meal agreement — permitted only where the nature of the work prevents relief from all duty, set down in a written agreement the officer can revoke in writing at any time. That agreement is only as good as its records, and the per-pay-period attestation is the record.
Augustus took on-call rest breaks off the table.
Augustus v. ABM Security (Cal. 2016) held that rest periods spent on call — radio on, post covered — are not rest periods. That exposure lands squarely on non-union patrol operators, and it attaches shift after shift. When a rest period doesn't fit the post, the question is whether a signed, dated record shows what actually happened.
The AB 1512 carve-out sunsets January 1, 2027.
AB 1512 abrogated Augustus for security officers under a qualifying collective bargaining agreement — but it sunsets January 1, 2027, and absent renewal in Sacramento the Augustus rules reach union shops again. For non-union operations, they never left. Either way, the operational question is the record, not the statute.
The contract-security stack we orchestrate.
Scheduling & payroll
WinTeam, TrackTik's back office, or Gusto and QuickBooks Payroll at the smaller end. MicroForensics reads officer rosters, post schedules, and pay-period boundaries as a read-only consumer, and reconciles the §226 wage statement against the per-period attestation. We don't replace the payroll run.
Patrol telemetry
Silvertrac, TrackTik, Trackforce, or another checkpoint-scan platform. Tour logs prove the officer was at post through the meal window — presence, not wage compliance. MicroForensics pairs each pay period's telemetry with the signed attestation that answers it, so the tour record stops standing alone.
The on-duty meal record
The written on-duty meal agreement — revocable in writing at any time, and answered per pay period rather than filed once at hire; the post-Augustus rest-period attestation; fifth-hour alerts routed to dispatch before the §512 window expires; bilingual (EN/ES) throughout.
One overlay fits the work itself: SB 553 workplace-violence prevention (Labor Code §6401.9, enforceable July 1, 2024) requires a written plan, training, and a violent-incident log — requirements that describe a security operator's ordinary shift. Those attestations run on the same per-period surface as the meal and rest record, and the §3395 outdoor-heat overlay covers outdoor posts and foot patrols.
What these buyers ask first.
- 01
We already run TrackTik (or Silvertrac). Doesn't the tour log prove compliance?
It proves presence, not wage compliance. Checkpoint scans and GPS place the officer at post through the meal window — which is exactly why unpaired telemetry is the plaintiff's exhibit, not yours: it shows an officer who worked through the window, with no record that the on-duty meal agreement was honored. MicroForensics reads the tour data you already produce and pairs it with the signed per-pay-period attestation that answers it.
- 02
Our officers signed on-duty meal agreements at hire. Isn't that enough?
The agreement is where the defense starts, not where it ends. It's lawful only where the nature of the work prevents relief from all duty, and the officer can revoke it in writing at any time — so the litigation question is what happened each pay period, not what was signed at orientation. Donohue v. AMN Services (Cal. 2021) presumes violations from the time records themselves; the per-pay-period attestation is the contemporaneous evidence that answers it, pay period by pay period.
- 03
Break relief depends on client sites we don't control. How do you scope that?
We scope to posts you actually staff and schedule. Where the client contract sets single-officer coverage, the record documents the reality — the on-duty meal agreement, rover relief where it exists, the logged exception when it doesn't. We don't promise a record for site conditions outside your control; the two-week diagnostic tells you where those boundaries sit before you commit to anything.
- 04
We have CBA-covered officers under AB 1512. Does this apply to us?
Yes, and the calendar matters: AB 1512's carve-out for CBA-covered security officers sunsets January 1, 2027, and absent renewal in Sacramento the Augustus rest-period rules reach union shops again. Building the rest and meal record now means the sunset changes your statute, not your operation. For non-union posts, Augustus has applied since 2016, and the record is already load-bearing.
Free 30-minute discovery call.
A fit conversation, not a sales call. Tell us about your timekeeping and payroll stack, your headcount, and what’s prompting the conversation. We’ll tell you whether the diagnostic makes sense, which engagement structure fits your situation, and what to expect if you proceed.
Request a discovery call→MicroForensics is reviewed by named California labor and employment counsel. Counsel does not represent your company; you should retain your own counsel for advice specific to your situation.