This is the first in an occasional series of issues that affect small business owners in California. PCOC is affiliated with the California Chamber of Commerce which acts as the lead lobbying association on many of the general small business issues that affect PCOC members. These include: workers compensation reform, mandated health insurance, meal and rest period issues, family leave and taxation.....to name but a few.
California is one of only three states in the nation that calculates overtime on a daily basis. [Quiz: Do you know the other two? Answer given at Convention!!!] All the other states calculate overtime on a weekly basis instead. Weekly overtime obviously gives much more flexibility to a small business owner by allowing for more flexible scheduling.
PCOC has supported legislation over the last three years to change California's archaic and non business-friendly overtime law. The problem is that the unions oppose any kind of change. You may be wondering why they would oppose such a change since they negotiate collective bargaining agreements for their union members. The reason is that they fear that a move to weekly overtime would undermine their power in negotiating.
Yes, we need overtime reform. No, we are not going to get it until the makeup of the California Legislature is more supportive of a change in the law. The breakdown is usually, but not always, the fact that Democrats vote against overtime reform as the majority of these legislators enjoy union support. Whereas, Republicans support overtime reform.
The strategy of the business community should be to educate legislators on how keeping overtime calculated on a daily basis is very bad for the business climate and job creation. This message should be a drum beat ... mentioned in every conversation with elected officials. This is where you can help. There is power in numbers and PCOC has those numbers. Furthermore, educate your employees about how such a change is beneficial to them as well.