California weighs shift to 32-hour workweek for larger companies

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.