Presented as a bill to allow California employees to work fewer hours each week, Assembly Bill 2932 by Assembly members Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) and Evan Low (D–Campbell), would require all businesses in the state with 500+ employees to redefine a full-time workweek to 32 hours instead of 40 hours.

There are several issues in the bill that demonstrate the authors are unfamiliar with how private sector businesses operate:

• Any hours worked by an employee over 32 hours would be considered overtime. The bill would require significant changes to overtime rules.
• The bill would require the employers to pay employees at the same rate of pay as their current 40 hour week, meaning employees will be getting a raise. AB 2932 prohibits an employer from reducing an employee’s regular rate of pay as a result of this reduced hourly workweek requirement.
• This is a backdoor minimum wage increase without having to vote on one.
• A.B. 2932 also exempts businesses that are already unionized.
• AB 2932 would significantly increase labor costs for employers.

Employers and employees for years have touted the benefits of 4-day work weeks, but not at reduced working hours; all previous proposals were for 4 days of work at 10 hours a day, equaling a 40-hour work week, giving employees a 3-day weekend.

For years California employers have wanted to be able to schedule flexible work shifts but labor unions have stood in the way. Federal law, and the vast majority of states, only require that...

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