An alternative workweek schedule (AWS) is a set workweek in California that
- requires you to work more than 8 hours in a 24-hour period but
- has fewer days in the workweek.
You and fellow employees (a “work unit”) can decide to use an AWS by voting. If an AWS is adopted, it can impact your overtime pay. However, because the workweek is the same, it will not alter your wages.
California labor law and the wage orders by the Industrial Welfare Commission allow for alternative workweeks that require you to work up to 10 hours in a day. (Note: Specific exceptions exist for the healthcare industry, where 12-hour shifts are permitted under certain wage orders.)
However, no AWS can establish a regular schedule of more than 40 hours in a workweek. This provides flexibility to both employees and employers.
Different employees in a workplace can be on different work schedules. Any AWS adopted only applies to the work unit that approved it. Also, only employees falling under Wage Orders 1 through 13, 16, and 17 are allowed to adopt an AWS.1
Alternative work schedules are allowed under California’s state employment law. Outside of the state of California, these laws have no effect, though some states may have their own laws allowing for an AWS.
How AWSs Are Created
In California, work units can implement an alternative workweek via either:
- a written proposal from the employer or
- a collective bargaining agreement.
An employer’s proposed AWS is only adopted if two-thirds of the affected workers in the work unit approve of it. Voting must be done in a secret ballot.
When your employer proposes an alternative workweek schedule, it can offer a single AWS or a menu of options. One of these options can be a standard schedule of eight-hour days.2 Your employer has to:
- issue a written disclosure that details the proposed schedules and
- hold a meeting at least 14 days prior to voting.
If any of the affected employees do not attend this meeting, the employer must mail them the proposal. If more than five percent of the affected employees speak a language other than English, the written disclosure has to be provided in that language, as well.
Employers can advocate for or against an AWS, but cannot intimidate, discriminate against, retaliate against, or discharge you over the election or the AWS.3
The Election
The election to establish an alternative workweek schedule has to be held at the California worksite of the affected employees during regular working hours. It has to:
- be a secret ballot election and
- happen before the new schedule is implemented.
To pass, at least two-thirds of the affected employees in the work unit must support the alternative schedule.4 To force a repeal election, a petition must be signed by at least one-third of the affected employees. (Once the election is held, a two-thirds vote is required to actually repeal it, but the one-third threshold is necessary to start the process).
If approved by a two-thirds vote, California employers have to report the results of the election to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement at the Department of Industrial Relations within 30 days. Also, the new schedule cannot actually begin until at least 30 days after the results are announced.5
Employee Rights & Protections
If you and your fellow employees adopt a menu of work schedule options, you can switch from one schedule to another on a weekly basis, with your employer’s consent.6
Your employer cannot reduce your regular rate of pay regardless of whether you and your fellow workers vote to approve, deny, or repeal an alternative workweek schedule in the secret ballot vote.
Note that California employers can unilaterally terminate an alternative workweek schedule without holding a repeal election as long as they give reasonable advance notice to employees.
Also note that employers must make a “reasonable effort” to find a work schedule strictly up to eight hours per day to accommodate any employee who was eligible to vote in the election and is unable to work the alternative schedule. (This is distinct from religious or disability accommodations).7
Employees hired after the election are generally subject to the AWS as a condition of employment. The employer is not required to offer the same “reasonable accommodation” (the eight-hour shift option) to new hires that they must offer to the original voting group.
A common AWS in California is a 4-day workweek, at 10 hours per day.
What Constitutes a “Work Unit”
In California, a work unit is any readily identifiable group of employees.8 This can include a:
- division,
- department,
- job classification,
- shift,
- separate physical location, or
- recognized subdivision of any other work unit.9
There is no need for there to be multiple workers in a work unit. It can still be an identifiable work unit if it only consists of a single employee.10
How an AWS impacts Overtime
If there is an alternative workweek schedule in place, it will alter how or whether non-exempt employees receive overtime pay in California. If you have an AWS, you are paid overtime wages for any hour worked in excess of:
- the regularly scheduled number of hours of work as established by the AWS or
- 40 hours per week.11
This is different from a regular worker’s right to overtime pay. When there is no alternative workweek schedule in place – and you are a non-exempt employee – you are entitled to overtime for hours worked in excess of:
- 8 hours in a single workday,
- 40 hours in a workweek, or
- 6 consecutive days in a workweek.12
In either case, overtime wages are 1.5 times your regular rate of pay. However, if you have an alternative workweek schedule in California, you are entitled to double-time pay for any hour worked in excess of:
- 12 hours in a workday or
- the 8th hour of a day that is not in the AWS’s regularly scheduled workdays.13
This is different from double-time pay rights for workers who are not in an AWS. Here, your employer must pay you double-time pay for hours worked in excess of:
- 12 hours in a single workday, or
- the 8th hour of your 7th day of work.14
Either way, your overtime payment has to be made no later than payday for the next regular pay period.15
When Employers Make Errors
Note that if an employer fails to comply with procedural requirements, the entire AWS can be invalidated. Depending on the situation, the employer may end up owing workers up to four years of back overtime pay calculated as if they had been on a standard eight-hour schedule the entire time.
A 2025 California Court of Appeal decision highlighted that even if an AWS is later found to be invalid (requiring back pay for overtime), the employer might avoid additional “wage statement penalties” if they can prove they had a “good faith belief” that the schedule was legal at the time.16
Common AWSs
Some standard alternative workweek schedules used in California workplaces include:
- a 4-day workweek, at 10 hours per day (known as a 4/10 work week),
- 8 days of 9 hours, 1 day of 8 hours, and an extra day off in 2 weeks (known as a 9/80 schedule, because it spaces the 80 hours over only 9 days), and
- 3 days of 10 hours and 2 days of 5 hours.
| California Pay Category | Standard Schedule | Alternative Workweek (AWS) |
| Daily Overtime (1.5x) | After 8 hours in a day. | Only after the scheduled shift ends (for example, after 10 hours). |
| Daily Double Time (2.0x) | After 12 hours in a day. | After 12 hours in a day. |
| Weekly Overtime | After 40 hours in a week. | After 40 hours in a week. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I opt out of the schedule if I voted “No”?
No. If the AWS is approved by a two-thirds vote of your work unit in California, it applies to everyone in that unit, even those who voted against it. However, your employer must make a “reasonable effort” to find an 8-hour schedule for employees who are unable to work the new schedule (for example, due to childcare or medical needs).
Do I get a second meal break on a 10-hour shift?
Generally, no—as long as you do not work more than 10 hours. California law requires a second meal break only if you work more than 10 hours. If your AWS shift is exactly 10 hours, your employer is only required to provide one 30-minute unpaid meal break (though you can legally waive the second one if you do end up working up to 12 hours).
How does a 9/80 schedule avoid overtime?
A “9/80” schedule works by artificially splitting the workweek in the middle of your alternating day off. For example, your workweek might technically begin at noon on Friday. This allows the first four hours of Friday to count toward Week 1 (totaling 40 hours) and the next 4 hours to count toward Week 2 (totaling 40 hours), avoiding the overtime trigger despite the longer shifts.
If I take a sick day on a 4/10 schedule, how many hours are deducted?
If you miss a full 10-hour shift for a sick day in California, your employer will typically deduct 10 hours from your accrued sick leave balance, not eight. This ensures you are paid your full wages for the day you missed.
Can we cancel the AWS if we don’t like it?
Yes. Just as California employees voted to adopt the schedule, they can vote to repeal it. If at least one-third of the work unit signs a petition calling for a repeal, the employer must hold a new secret ballot election. If two-thirds vote to repeal, the schedule must be terminated within 60 days.
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- What a Difference a Day Makes, or Does It – Work/Family Balance and the Four-Day Work Week – Connecticut Law Review.
- Reducing working hours: shorter days or fewer days per week? Insights from a 30-hour workweek experiment – Cambridge Journal of Economics.
- An analysis of municipal police department work schedules within Los Angeles County, California – California State University, Northridge.
- The Effects of the Three-Day Workweek on Patterns of Leisure Participation of Blue-Collar Workers (Recreation) – Indiana University.
Legal References:
- California Labor Code section 511 and California Wage Orders 1–13, 16, and 17, section 3. See, for example: ; Service Employees Internat. Union, Local 250 v. Colcord (Cal. App. 1st Dist., 2008) 160 Cal. App. 4th 362; Arechiga v. Dolores Press, Inc. (Cal. App. 2d Dist., 2011) 192 Cal. App. 4th 567; Singh v. Superior Court (Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Seven, 2006) 140 Cal. App. 4th 387. See also California’s Department of Human Resources Alternative Workweek Schedule.
- California Wage Orders 1–13, 16, and 17, section 3(C). See also Vranish v. Exxon Mobil Corp. (Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Two, 2014) 223 Cal. App. 4th 103.
- Same.
- Same.
- California Labor Code 511(e) LC.
- California Labor Code 511(a) LC.
- California Labor Code 511(c) LC.
- California Wage Orders 1–13, 16, and 17, section 3(C)(2).
- Same. See also California Labor Code 511(i) LC.
- Same.
- California Labor Code 511(b) LC.
- California Labor Code 510 LC.
- California Labor Code 511(b) LC.
- California Labor Code 510 LC.
- California Labor Code 204(b)(1) LC.
- Dezan v. Dignity Health (Cal. Ct. App., Jan. 17, 2025) No. D081552.
