News from the GCVCC Business Legislative Advocacy Committee

Letter of Support:

The California Chamber of Commerce and the organizations listed below are pleased to SUPPORT your
AB 1028 (Seyarto). AB 1028 will provide telecommuting non-exempt employees more flexibility in their
daily and weekly schedules.

During the current COVID-19 crisis, many employers have considered offering employees the opportunity
to work from home in the midst of shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders. Where such telecommuting is
possible, it allows employees to remain working and earning income, even during a pandemic or other
disruption. Unfortunately, current law has not kept pace with the flexibility and technology that allows remote
work, and fails to distinguish an employee working remotely from an employee working at the employer’s
place of business.

Strict daily overtime requirements, meal and rest break requirements, and the threat of lawsuits under the
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) make employers hesitant to continue to offer telecommuting options
for non-exempt employees and it discourages employers from providing non-exempt employees flexibility
as to when they work during the day. California is one of the only states that requires employers to pay
daily overtime after eight hours of work in addition to weekly overtime after 40 hours of work. Even other
states that impose daily overtime requirements allow the employer and employee to essentially waive the
daily eight-hour overtime requirement through a written agreement. California, however, provides no such
common-sense alternative. Rather, California requires employers to navigate through a multi-step process
to have employees elect an alternative workweek schedule that, once adopted, must be “regularly”
scheduled. This process is filled with potential traps that could lead to costly litigation, as one misstep may
render the entire alternative workweek schedule invalid and leave the employer on the hook for claims of
unpaid overtime wages.

Full Letter:

AB 1028 Author Support Coalition