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California bill would double holiday pay

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Employees who work on Thanksgiving and Christmas in California would be entitled to double pay on those holidays under legislation proposed this week by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez.

The San Diego Democrat said her bill would protect employees who are forced to work on the “increasingly commercialized” holidays.

The measure, to be introduced in next year’s legislative session, would not affect holidays this year.

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If eventually passed as introduced, it would apply to workers at businesses large and small, full-time and part-time workers and those who volunteer or are compelled to work on the holidays, the lawmaker said.

“There are millions of workers who have been forced to work on what have been traditional holidays,” Gonzalez said during a news conference outside a Walmart store on Murphy Canyon Road in San Diego. “Somebody has to stand up and say: ‘You have to be compensated fairly.’”

The bill would only affect Thanksgiving and Christmas, though legislation could be considered for additional holidays in the future, Gonzalez’s spokesman said. The lawmaker said she chose Thanksgiving and Christmas because employers compel workers to show up on those days more than other holidays.

Many businesses offer employees time-and-a-half pay or other benefits for working holidays. But Gonzalez, a former labor leader, said there are no laws that prevent employers in California from requiring employees to work on holidays for standard pay.

She added that the bill is part of her push to “restructure the way this state looks at families and workers.”

Representatives for Walmart, the California Chamber of Commerce and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment on the proposal.

Diane McCain, a Walmart cashier who’s worked at the company’s El Cajon store for the past decade, spoke in favor of the bill at Wednesday’s news conference.

She said the company has denied her request to take Thanksgiving off in three recent years, making her feel like it’s a requirement. Each time she’s worked that holiday, she said, she’s received the equivalent of time-and-a-half pay.

McCain said Walmart workers want “to be appreciate for the work we do.”

A separate Walmart worker, Janika Wilborn, said after the event that she is “definitely not forced to work on Thanksgiving” and that she receives “a hot meal” from the company when she works on the holiday.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman told the Sacramento Bee that employees who work on Thanksgiving essentially receive double pay already.

“It equals out to be an extra day’s pay,” the spokeswoman said.

Wal-Mart workers in San Diego described their holiday pay as closer to the equivalent of time-and-a-half pay.

Three states in the country -- Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island -- prevent major retailers and some grocery stores from opening on holidays.

While she’d prefer to see California join those three, Gonzalez said it would be too difficult to enact a ban in the Golden State.

Gonzalez said critics have already warned her that her bill won’t go far. But, the assemblywoman said, the time is right for the challenge.

“Retailers have rebounded. They’re making staggering profits,” she said. “They’re making money off the people forced to come to work on holidays.”

She said she did not think the bill would affect small businesses much, as they typically close on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Gonzalez, the former head of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, has championed worker causes since being elected to the Assembly in 2013.

Most notably, she led the charge on mandatory sick leave pay for nearly all workers in California at businesses large and small. Her bill, AB 1522, was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September. It goes into effect July 1, 2015.

chris.nichols@utsandiego.com | (916) 445-2934 | Twitter@ChrisTheJourno

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