Time Is Money - But How Much?

Yours truly is catching up with an item updated on July 16 in the Bruin:

A University exemption to California labor law has caused academic and mental stress for student sound technicians employed by Associated Students UCLA, echoing concerns other UC workers have brought forth in lawsuits. The University is not required to pay the standard overtime required of labor laws in California. Instead, the University must only pay for time worked in excess of 40 hours in a week, not the standard requirement of overtime pay for time worked in excess of eight hours in a day.

Although ASCULA operates as a separate, nonprofit entity, ASUCLA social media manager Christian Manuel claimed in an emailed statement that the UC policies are still applicable for ASUCLA and it falls under the same labor law exemption. “ASUCLA is a tax-exempt, nonprofit public benefit unincorporated Association and is a separate and distinct legal entity,” Manuel said in the statement. “At the same time, it is a unit of the University of California and subject to all applicable UC policies.”

Student sound technicians, who work for ASUCLA Event Services, are responsible for assisting with the audio visual technology used in events hosted by ASUCLA or student groups that reserve campus venues. Many are part-time employees on top of being full-time students and are only supposed to work a maximum of 20 hours a week, ASUCLA said in an emailed statement.

The standard California overtime rate is 1.5 times the base salary after the first eight hours and double after 12 hours, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations. However, when asked about providing overtime pay for 13-hour shifts, Marisa Osborne, the ASUCLA senior division manager, and Janelle Marcus, the ASUCLA payroll division manager, repeatedly said in emails to student workers that the UC is exempt from California overtime pay laws.

In April, ASUCLA student sound technicians were assigned up to 16-hour shifts without overtime pay, according to schedules provided by the sound technicians.

Some students said the long shifts have taken away from other aspects of their lives, such as school. A sound technician who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their job said they have missed classes to work assigned shifts – which caused their grades to fall lower than in any other quarter they had completed at UCLA...

Tobias Higbie, a professor of history and labor studies, said that even though workers being forced to take on excessive hours and being improperly compensated is not uncommon, he is surprised that such an exemption to California labor law exists...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2023/07/09/uc-exemption-from-state-labor-law-allows-asucla-misconduct-student-workers-allege.

It might be noted that UC and UCLA sometimes follow state and local rules, even though they are exempt. For example, UCLA followed LA County's COVID restrictions.