> As some of you know, many companies are saving money by obligating workers to take unpaid, involuntary vacation, that is, a few days or even a week without pay. ---------- Slight correction: What Sun and others are generally doing is forcing people to take PAID vacation, and giving them the option to take it unpaid. Forcing salaried employees to take UNPAID 'vacation' is, obviously, blatantly illegal under California labor law governing salaried employees.
But note that California law differs from Federal law in that the former covers salaried pay on a MONTHLY basis, while the latter covers on a WEEKLY basis. So, there are two 'gray areas' here, 1) the difference between California and Federal law and 2) the issue of whether simply paying people and then requiring them not to work, discounting it as 'vacation', is legal under California law.
It's clear that Sun and others are banking on its legality under FEDERAL law, which would only make this illegal for fractions of a week, NOT for weekly fractions of a month. This explains why Sun (for example) required that the time be taken off in a single week block, while a primary offer to pay for the week is an attempt to elide (avoid) potential violation of California law, since the entire month would be paid.
However, according to the SJ Mercury news article that I read to you last Sunday, this maneuver should not hold up if it can be shown that employees could not otherwise perform their work (due to physical plant shutdown, etc.) had they not been on 'vacation'.
But A. is right on target with the politics - the b*****d Democrats in Sacramento could care less - they are not enforcing the law. It is very typical of them.
-Brad --------------------------
> This is slightly illegal. Okay, it's flat out illegal.
>
> The state of California ("The best politicians that money can buy") is not enforcing the law.
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> In the current economy, workers of course will be reluctant to point out to their company that the laws don't allow this.
>
> Naturally, companies do not want to break the law. So... the NWU will help companies understand their responsibility under the law.
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> If you are at a company that has or plans to send salaried workers on unpaid vacation, then stay in touch with the NWU
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> It's extremely important that you keep track of your work hours during the month that the involuntary vacation takes place, even if only a day.
>
> yrs,