Grinberg: More Genius Ideas From Sacramento

Thursday, April 14, 2022 | 0

If writing blog posts about horrible proposed legislation were a full-time job, I would demand overtime pay after doing it for 32 hours per week. Does that sound like gibberish? Well, it should.

Gregory Grinberg

Allow me to direct your attention to Assembly Bill 2932, introduced by the California Legislature last month to cap full time at 32 hours and make overtime pay mandatory for all work done in excess of 32 hours per week.

If that sounds familiar, it should: I respectfully drew your attention to a federal proposed bill, H.R. 4728, that would have a similar effect.

The California bill would apply to employers that have more than 500 employees, although the plain language of the bill does not appear to limit that number to California employees. Presumably, an employer with 10 employees in California but 500 employees globally would have to start paying overtime at 32 hours for its California workers.

Another bizarre component of the bill is that it prohibits employers from reducing an employee’s regular rate of pay to end up with the same weekly wage at 40 hours. 

Should AB 2932 become law, much like with H.R. 4728 we can expect increased average weekly wage calculations, including for those employees who worked more than 32 hours per week prior to going out on temporary total disability.  

So, this is another one to watch.

Gregory Grinberg is managing partner of Gale, Sutow & Associates’ S.F. Bay South office and a certified specialist in workers’ compensation law. This post is reprinted with permission from Grinberg’s WCDefenseCA blog.