Four-Day Workweek Law Pending for Large Employers
California Assembly Bill (AB) 2932 seeks to redefine the “workweek” from 40 hours to 32 hours for employers with more than 500 on payroll.
Under existing California law, employers must pay whichever total overtime hours are greater over the seven-day workweek — weekly (over 40) or cumulative daily (over eight/day).
The proposed new law would require affected employers to pay overtime after 32 work hours/week and prohibits regular pay rate reduction in response.
If enacted, California would be the first state in the U.S. to adopt a less-than-40-hour workweek, joining countries such as Australia (38), Belgium (38) and France (35).
In opposition, the California Chamber of Commerce stated: “California is one of the only states with the eight hours per day requirement. The remaining states all comply with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which only requires overtime after 40 hours in a week. Now, California is proposing to be the only state to differ from the FLSA in two ways: both the daily eight-hour requirement and lowering the 40-hour weekly overtime threshold to 32 hours. That is a minimum 10% increase in wages per employee per week.”
Take-Aways:
We’ll continue to monitor this bill. California employers of all sizes must continue to properly track and pay daily and weekly overtime. Those concerned over the prospective change should let their legislators know.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also:
- Management’s Best Foot Forward (February 10, 2022)
- Cautionary Tales Episode 24 – Unpaid Wages and Attempt to Evade Consequences Result in Seizure of Owners’ Assets (January 16, 2019)
- The Basics of Overtime – Five Rules in California (April 27, 2018)
Cindy Bamforth
April 28, 2022