Labor Opinion Criticized
Employer groups, joined by Industrial Welfare Commission Chairman Bill Dombrowski, on Friday denounced an opinion by the state’s top labor enforcement lawyer that said white-collar workers must be paid for furloughs of up to a month.
Until now, employers had paid salaried workers for furloughs of up to a week and believed they could force them to take vacation time. But in a May 30 letter, Miles Locker, chief counsel for the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, said employers must pay salaried workers during furloughs of up to a month and may not force them to use vacation time.
Although Locker’s opinion wasn’t on the agenda for the IWC’s meeting Friday, several employers sent representatives to demand relief, saying Locker’s rule would hinder their plans to save costs by sending workers home on forced vacation or without pay.
That opinion “takes a viewpoint that’s 180 degrees different” from the previous enforcement policy, said Dombrowski, who also is president of the California Retailers Assn. “And, as far as I can see, it has no basis.”
But labor lawyer Patricia Gates said Locker’s opinion is exactly what the state Legislature intended two years ago when it passed a new overtime law--and it is only fair.
“If you are going to work hourly people long hours, the company has to pick up the tab” with overtime pay, Gates said. “Salaried people work longer than 40 hours without additional pay. If you didn’t give them any more when they worked 70 hours, you can’t give them less for working less than 40.”
The commission ended the impromptu debate by setting a special meeting for June 29 and demanding that Locker, who did not attend Friday, appear to explain his opinion.
“I’m waiting to hear how he can justify it,” Dombrowski said.
Several employers, including Sun Microsystems Inc., had planned to send workers home on forced vacations timed to take advantage of the Fourth of July holiday, which falls on a Wednesday this year.
“Everybody is very frustrated . . . that they didn’t get any guidance,” said Felicia Reid, a San Francisco lawyer who represents a dozen such employers.
Locker declined to comment.
