SB 985 Summary

• Establishes the California Workplace Flexibility Act of 2016, allowing individual nonexempt employees to request and work up to 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek without overtime pay, effective until January 1, 2022.

• Requires employee-selected flexible work schedules to be made in writing on a Division of Labor Standards Enforcement form, with employer approval, and must include statements that participation is voluntary and not a condition of employment.

• Mandates overtime pay at 1.5 times regular rate for hours over 40 in a week or over 10 in a day (whichever is greater), and double-time pay for hours over 12 in a day or beyond the fifth through seventh workday in a week.

• Exempts employees covered by collective bargaining agreements and public sector employees; allows either party to discontinue the schedule with written notice at the next pay period.

• Requires employers to maintain signed voluntary participation statements and submit copies to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and mandates the Division submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2021, evaluating the program's effects.