California Work Schedule Changes Leave Employers Scrambling

Payroll departments, staffing managers and other HR types in California companies will have to adapt to some significant changes effective January 1, 2000. After a one-year “experiment” with no daily overtime, California has returned to the requirement that any work in excess of eight hours in one workday must be paid time-and-a-half. The same is true for any work in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek. The new provisions can wreak havoc with existing alternative work schedules, although there are ways to implement such schedules under the new law. But pay attention; it’s complicated.

Adoption by secret ballot election.
If suggested by an employer, employees may adopt a regularly scheduled alternative workweek of no longer than 10 hours a day within a 40-hour workweek without incurring overtime. “Adoption” requires a secret ballot election with at least two-thirds of affected employees in a work unit approving the schedule. The alternative workweek may be a single work schedule that would become the standard schedule for employees, or a menu of work schedule options from which each employee in the unit would be entitled to choose.

If actual work hours exceed those established by an alternative workweek under this provision, the employee is entitled to overtime-either time and a half or double time depending upon whether the work per day exceeds 12 hours or goes beyond eight hours for days worked beyond the regular schedule.

Effect on existing alternative work schedules.
Any alternative schedule in effect on January 1, 2000, can be repealed by the employees affected. And the law says that any alternative workweek schedule that was adopted under former Wage Orders 1, 4, 5, 7 or 9 is null and void, except for a schedule that provided for no more than 10 hours’ work in a workday and was adopted by a two-thirds vote of affected employees in a secret ballot election under wage orders in effect before 1998.

However, if an employee is voluntarily working an alternative workweek schedule of not more than 10 hours work in a workday as of July 1, 1999, the employee may continue to work that schedule, without daily overtime, if the employee makes a written request to work that schedule.

Special rules for the health-care industry.
An alternative workweek schedule in the health-care industry that was adopted by a two-thirds vote of affected employees in a secret ballot election (under Wage Orders 4 and 5 in effect prior to 1998) that authorized workdays over 10 hours but not over 12 hours without overtime remains valid until July 1, 2000. However, health-care employers must make a reasonable effort to accommodate any employee who is unable to work the alternative schedule.

Licensed hospitals.
A licensed hospital that institutes a regularly scheduled workweek authorizing no more than three working days of no more than 12 hours each within any workweek must make a reasonable effort to find an alternative work assignment for any employee who participated in the vote which authorized the schedule but is unable to work 12-hour workday schedules. However, an employer is not required to offer an alternative work assignment to an employee if an alternative work assignment is not available or if the employee was hired after the adoption of the 12-hour, 3-day workweek schedule. (This provision is effective only until July 1, 2000.)

Accommodating employees who can’t work the alternative schedules.
All employers must make a reasonable effort to find an eight-hour per day work schedule in order to accommodate any employee who was in the work unit when the election was held and who is unable to work the alternative schedule established as the result of that election.

Cite: “Eight-Hour-Day Restoration and Workplace Flexibility Act of 1999” (A.B. 60), L. 1999, effective 1/1/00.

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