As companies experiment with a four-day workweek, California is trying to make it a state law.
A new bill introduced in the state assembly would make the official workweek 32 hours for companies with 500 or more employees, with hefty raises for any work done past that cutoff. Employers would be required to pay time-and-a-half to workers whose hours run over 32 a week. Work stretching past 12 hours a day or into seven days a week would be paid at double their normal wage.
Employers subject to the law also would be barred from reducing workers' pay because they are working less, assembly member Cristina Garcia, one of the bill's sponsors, told the Los Angeles Times. The bill would not cover workers who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
The proposed law would cover about 2,600 companies in California, or about one-fifth of the state's workforce, according to the Employment Development Department.
The California Chamber of Commerce called it a "job killer," saying it would make hiring more expensive and lead to a drop in jobs in California.
"Labor costs are often one of the highest costs a business faces," Ashley Hoffman, policy advocate with the Chamber, wrote to bill cosponsor Evan Low last week.
"[B]usinesses often operate on thin profit margins and… the number of employees you have does not dictate financial success," she wrote.
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