BILL ANALYSIS
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 812
Author: Correa (D)
Amended: 9/5/07
Vote: 21
SENATE VOTES NOT RELEVANT
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 9/10/07 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Alternative workweek schedules: pharmacists
SOURCE : California Retailers Association
DIGEST : This bill specifies that pharmacists employed in
the mercantile industry are authorized to adopt alternative
workweek schedules, as specified.
Assembly Amendments delete the prior version of the bill.
As it left the Senate, the bill related to voter
registration and paid registration activities.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Defines a day's work as eight hours of labor.
2. Requires that any work in excess of eight hours day, in
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excess of 40 hours a week, and the first eight hours on
the seventh day of work are to be compensated at no less
than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay, and
provides corresponding exemptions for certain
classifications of employees.
3. Requires that any work in excess of 12 hours a day and
in excess of eight hours on the seventh day of work are
to be compensated at no less than twice the regular rate
of pay, and provides corresponding exemptions for
certain classifications of employees.
4. Allows employees of an employer to adopt a regularly
scheduled alternative workweek that authorizes work by
the affected employees for no longer than 10 hours per
day within a 40-hour workweek without the payment of
overtime. Such alternative workweek schedules are
permissible only if they receive approval in a secret
ballot election by two-thirds of the affected employees.
5. Authorizes employees in the health care industry to
adopt alternative workweek schedules that include
workdays of not more than 12 hours within a 40-hour
workweek without the payment of overtime compensation,
provided that certain other conditions are met. For
example, such employees who work beyond 12 hours in a
workday must be compensated at double their regular rate
of pay.
This bill specifies that pharmacists employed in the
mercantile industry are authorized to adopt alternative
workweek schedules that include workdays of not more than
12 hours within a 40 hour workweek without the payment of
overtime compensation, similar to a provision of existing
law that applies to pharmacists in the health care
industry.
Comments
Prior to 2000, pharmacists in California were considered by
many to be exempt from the payment of overtime due to the
operation of the "professional exemption" with excludes
persons employed in a professional capacity that meet
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certain criteria.
However, that changed with the enactment of SB 651
(Burton), Chapter 190, Statutes of 1999. Under SB 651, the
law was amended to provide that a person employed in the
practice of pharmacy is not exempt from the payment of
overtime unless he/she individually meets the criteria
established under two other exemptions for executive or
administrative employees. SB 651 also specified that no
person employed in the practice of pharmacy may be subject
to exemption under the "professional exemption." SB 651
was supported by the California Retailers Association and
organized labor.
Pharmacists practicing in California are generally covered
under two possible wage orders of the Industrial Welfare
Commission: Wage Order 4 (which covers the healthcare
industry, among other occupations) or Wage Order 7 (which
covers the mercantile industry, such as retail
establishments). Following the enactment of SB 651, both
of these wage orders were amended to reflect the new
exemption language.
Under current law, employees generally must be paid
overtime after eight hours in a workday. Current law
allows employees to adopt an alternative workweek schedule
that authorizes 10-hour workdays within a 40-hour workweek
without the payment of overtime. Wage Order 4 goes even
further and authorizes employees is the health care
industry to authorize alternative schedules with workdays
of up to 12 hours within a 40-hour workweek without the
payment of overtime. However, Wage Order 7 currently does
not contain similar language. The California Retailers
Association argues that this was an inadvertent oversight
on the part of the Industrial Welfare Commission as it
relates to pharmacists under Wage Order 7, and that this
bill is intended to correct that inconsistency.
Therefore, a pharmacist employed in the health care
industry and covered under Wage Order 4 may adopt an
alternative workweek schedule with 12 hour workdays without
the payment of overtime. However, the California Retailers
Association argues that it is not clear whether a
pharmacist under Wage Order 7 is authorized to adopt such a
work schedule. This bill eliminates that discrepancy by
authorizing pharmacists in the mercantile industry to
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operate under the same rules as pharmacists employed in the
health care industry covered under Wage Order 4.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/5/07)
California Retailers Association (source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : This bill is sponsored by the
California Retailers Association, who argues that it
corrects an inadvertent omission from the prior agreement
on SB 651 and simply makes the two wage orders consistent,
allowing pharmacists the flexibility of designing their
work schedule to accommodate their professional and
personal schedule. The sponsor states that they have
developed the current language in consultation with the
United Food and Commercial Workers and the California
Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, who are both neutral on the
bill.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Benoit, Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero,
Charles Calderon, Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre,
De Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore, Duvall, Dymally, Emmerson,
Eng, Feuer, Fuentes, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Garcia,
Garrick, Hayashi, Hernandez, Horton, Houston, Huff,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Karnette, Keene, La Malfa,
Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Ma, Maze, Mendoza,
Mullin, Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra, Plescia,
Portantino, Price, Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Silva, Smyth, Soto, Spitzer, Swanson, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Walters, Wolk, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Evans, Hancock, Krekorian, Solorio,
Strickland, Vacancy
NC:mw 9/11/07 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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