CALIFORNIA LAW UPDATE: NO INDIVIDUAL FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK

On April 18, 2007, the Labor and Employment Committee of the California Assembly Labor rejected, in a 3-5 vote, the California Chamber of Commerce sponsored bill, entitled AB 510. If passed, AB 510 would have permitted an individual employee to work up to ten hours per day within a forty-hour workweek without overtime pay, as long as his or her employer consented. This would have changed current California law, which requires overtime pay for any work performed in excess of eight hours a day. There is a process which currently allows for an alternative workweek, such as a four-day workweek, but it is complicated and requires the employer to hold a discussion meeting at least fourteen days before the voting and also requires that two-thirds of the employees vote to approve the change. AB 510 would have made it possible for individual employees to make decisions regarding their personal work schedules without affecting others, through a simple agreement with their employers.