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Assemblymember John Benoit State Capitol Room 4144 Sacramento, CA 94249-0064 Dear Assemblymember Benoit, I SUPPORT AB 2127 (Benoit), the Small Business Family Scheduling Option of 2008, which would allow employees and employers flexibility in work schedules to help accommodate employees' diverse family obligations, personal pursuits, commuting issues and environmental concerns by allowing a small business to agree to provide scheduling options requested by an employee. This option, known as the Small Business Family Scheduling Option, would allow a small employer (25 or less employees) to agree to an employee’s request to work four 10-hour days a week, or eight nine-hour days and one eight-hour day in two weeks, also known as a 9/80 schedule. This bill applies exclusively to small businesses with 25 or fewer employees that are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. According to the U. S. Department of Labor, our labor force is growing at a very modest rate, and the number of available workers between 25 and 44 may actually shrink. The need for qualified employees should encourage employers to rethink recruitment and retention strategies of employees. The ability to provide flexible work schedules to employees may aide in retaining employees, improving productivity and reducing absenteeism because employees can take care of personal business on personal time. AB 2127 also provides important protection for employees. According to the Small Business Family Scheduling Option the request for the Family Scheduling Option must be executed in writing by the employee and it must be made voluntarily; the employer is required to maintain a copy of the written agreement as they would any personnel record. Either the employee or the employer can revoke the agreement at any time, provided they give seven days written notice, any hours worked beyond the compressed workweek hours must be paid at normal overtime rates, and the employer is prohibited from reducing the employee’s regular rate of pay as a result of the employee adopting an alternative work week schedule. Under AB 2127 union employees and their employers would not be affected by the new option being offered in AB 2127 as they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Current language in California Labor Code Section 514 would allow the provisions of AB xx to be available only to small businesses with less than 25 employees that are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. In the event that a small employer enters into a collective bargaining agreement subsequent to entering into an alternative workweek agreement, Labor Code 514 mandates the collective bargaining agreement would apply instead. Flexibility in daily overtime rules benefit both employers and employees. Working a compressed four-day workweek provides for up to 50 extra days each year for the average full-time employee. That will be time for the employee to spend with family, attend children's school activities, take care of dependent elders, go to medical appointments, go back to school or attend to other private matters that usually cannot be accomplished on a weekend. Workplace flexibility isn’t just about working families or women, it’s about everyone. It is about changing demands both in society and the workplace to include time for quality of life, time for loved ones and time for individual pursuits. Current law is inflexible. Today, California law requires overtime compensation to be paid for work performed by an hourly employee who works in excess of eight hours in a single day or more than 40 hours in a single work week. However, due to California’s strict overtime premium pay requirements, employers usually refuse to permit a four-day compressed workweek schedule because the last two hours of each 10-hour workday would have to be paid at time and a half wage rates.

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