Telework Flexibility Act.

Existing law, with various exceptions, generally establishes 8 hours as a day's work and a 40-hour workweek and requires the payment of prescribed overtime compensation for additional hours worked. This bill would permit an individual nonexempt employee to request an employee-selected remote work flexible work schedule providing for workdays up to 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek and would allow an employer to implement this schedule without the obligation to pay overtime compensation for those additional hours in a workday, except as specified. The authorization would apply only if an employee is working remotely and not under the physical control of the employer. The bill would require that the flexible work schedule contain specified information and the employer's and the employee's original signatures. The bill would except split shift premiums from application to the work of employees who are working an employee-selected remote work flexible work schedule. The bill would require the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce this provision and adopt regulations. Existing law regulates the wages, hours, and working conditions of any worker employed in any occupation, trade, or industry, whether compensation is measured by time, piece, or otherwise, except as specified. This bill would authorize any nonexempt employee working from home who is not under the physical control of the employer to choose when to take any meal or rest period during the workday, if the employer has not already scheduled a meal or rest period within the requirements of the law. The bill would require an employer to notify the employee of this right one time, when the employee begins working from home and if the employer fails to provide this notification, to pay only one additional hour of pay for each day that the employer fails to provide this notice. The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 authorizes an aggrieved employee on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency for the violation of certain provisions affecting employees. This bill would prohibit an employee from recovering civil penalties from an employer under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 for violations of provisions requiring the employer to provide meal and rest breaks if the employee engaged in remote work, as specified. Among other things, the bill would require that the alleged violations occurred in a period beginning with March 19, 2020, and lasting until January 1, 2022, or until the declared end of the COVID-19 state of emergency issued by the Governor, whichever is earlier.