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FOUR DAY WORKWEEK – ASSEMBLY BILL 510
The California Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring legislation
to permit individual workers and their employers to mutually agree to
a four-day workweek.
The bill, AB 510 (Benoit; R-Bermuda Dunes), will help individual
employees achieve greater flexibility in work schedules — something
survey after survey shows employees want in a job.
The Chamber sponsored similar legislation during the 2005-06
legislative session: AB 640 (Tran; R-Garden Grove), SB 1254 (Ackerman;
R-Tustin) and AB 2217 (Villines; R-Clovis). The bills all failed in
Assembly and Senate policy committees on party-line votes.
Permitting individual flexibility is one way employers can help
workers find some relief from hectic days, long commutes, high
gasoline prices and conflicting work and personal schedules. To help
employers provide that flexibility, California needs to change the law
enough to permit four-day workweeks for individual workers who want to
find a balance between their work and personal lives.
AB 510 will permit an individual employee, with the consent of his/her
employer, to work up to 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek
without overtime pay. Overtime premium pay still would be required for
more than 10 hours of work in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek, as
would double-time after 12 work hours in a day.
Union Practice
The legislation notes that unionized workplaces already allow
workers to choose to work four 10-hour days, but that it is virtually
impossible for workers at non-unionized workplaces to enjoy the
benefit. “No compelling public policy reason exists for this
discrepancy in the flexibility of work schedules between unionized and
non-unionized workers,” the legislation states.
Current Law
California law requires that overtime compensation be paid for
work performed by an employee in excess of eight hours in a single
day, regardless of whether the employee works fewer than 40 hours in
that week .California is one of only four states that do not conform
wage laws to the national Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA
bases its overtime compensation requirements for salaried, non-exempt
employees on total hours worked per week, rather than total hours
worked per day.
Under current and very detailed California Industrial Welfare
Commission wage orders, employers may institute alternative work
schedules only if the affected employees agree to the arrangement in
writing and by secret ballot. Employers must hold discussion meetings
at least 14 days before voting. Two-thirds of the company’s employees
must agree to the change. Any deviation from the rigidly controlled
process voids the election.
Few Use Complex Process
California’s complex process in effect eliminates most employers
and employees from choosing schedule options such as flextime,
part-time, job sharing, telecommuting and compressed workweeks. Only a
handful of California employers are trying to operate under the
restrictive provisions in the Labor Code.
Employers that are offering a staggered work schedule without going
through an election process are operating in violation of the law.
Exempt from daily overtime are employees covered by collective
bargaining agreements — these include all state, county and city
employees, such as those employed by school districts, water districts
and a multitude of other governmental agencies.
Surrounding States
The states bordering California have more flexible rules.
· In Oregon, employees working overtime must be paid at
1.5 times their regular rate of pay after working 40 hours in a
single week.
· In Washington, most employees paid hourly are entitled
to 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for any time worked over 40
hours in a seven-day workweek. Some salary- or commission-based
employees also must be paid overtime.
· Arizona does not have state-set overtime rules and
instead requires employers to use the 40-hour requirements set out
in the federal FLSA.
· In Nevada, an employer must pay 1.5 times an employee’s
regular rate of pay whenever an employee works more than 40 hours in
a week or more than eight hours in any workday, unless the employee
and employer have made a specific agreement providing for a
scheduled 10-hour day with a four-day workweek.
Chamber Position
The Chamber strongly believes that permitting individual workers and
their employers to arrange and use a four-day workweek will give
employees more flexibility and employers the ability to be more
responsive to employee work/life needs.
AB 510 awaits a hearing date in the Assembly Labor and Employment
Committee
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