California Alternative Work Schedules
Alternative work weeks schedules in California
First of all it is important to understand what is the meaning of alternative work week schedule?
This schedule allows employees and supervisors to agree upon a distribution of their work hours. Although it does not change the number of work hours but it allow both employer and employees to rearrange their work schedule to better meet their personal needs while also considering the needs of the office. Its major advantages are to improve employee job satisfaction, to extend service hours for public and to decrease short term absenteeism for medical and personal appointments
It is the policy of the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) to offer flexible work hours and schedules to employees while continuing to maintain operating system efficiency, productivity of system, and effective service to the public and State agencies. For instance it is very common to see alternative work week schedules implemented in hospitals some RN’s may work 4 ten hour days or even 3 twelve hour days.
Only permanent CalHR employees in classes assigned to Work Week Group (WWG) (covered by the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)) are eligible to participate in an “official” alternative work week schedules. It is not allowed on a formal basis for employees that the work schedule flexibility of employees allows a variety of work schedules that are mutually acceptable to the employee and the supervisor. The alternate work week schedule may be terminated at any time for failure to maintain acceptable leave balances.
Managers/supervisors must ensure that their units have coverage during the normal office hours from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm including 30 min lunch period. Employee workload and the type of work performed must be kept under consideration. These are the issues one must consider to approve any request of alternate work week schedule.
Employee should submit a complete alternate work week agreement and proposed calendar to their managers. The Department of General Services (DGS) annually creates work schedule calendars consistent with work schedules.
Moreover, the employee’s attendance record should b reviewed .Careful consideration must be given before approving an alternate work week schedule for any employee whose leave balances are consistently hovering around the required 40 hour minimum. Exceptions to this policy can be made at the discernment of the Division Chief; there should be reason for approval of document.
All the alternate work week schedules should be approved for 3 to 6 month of trial period. This will allow precise time to determine any impact of changing schedule which may have on meeting workload commitments, appraising affect on attendance, as well as allowing the employee and their supervisor to see whether the new work schedule will meet individual and program needs.
Any adjustments to the employee’s original request should be carefully observed and discussed with the employee in order to develop a work schedule that is agreeable to both the supervisor and the employee. Adjustments to the original agreement should be documented.
Law for labor is very complex and details can easily get missed United Employees Law Group has extensive experience and we are ready to help. CALL TODAY (415) 230-2755
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Rido