May 1, 2009

California Senate Rejects Bill to Ease Alternative Workweek Rules

On April 29, the California Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee rejected an employer-friendly bill (SB 187) aimed at making it easier for employers to lawfully allow employees to work an alternative workweek schedule. If passed, the bill would have allowed individual employees to request a compressed four day per week work schedule (four ten hour days) and if the employer agreed, overtime compensation would not have to be paid for hours worked under the regular four day per week schedule. The bill would have provided a workable alternative to the rigid election process employers must now use in order to adopt a valid alternative workweek schedule, and would have allowed individual employees greater flexibility in scheduling their workweeks. Notwithstanding the benefits the bill would have provided both employers and employees, the Senate rejected the bill this week on party lines, with two Republican Senators voting in favor of the bill and four Democratic Senators voting against the bill.