A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is alleging that the new overtime rules, which were approved by Gov.
Jerry Brown, violate the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act.
The lawsuit filed by the California Nurses Association, a union representing thousands of hospital, health care and other health care workers, is seeking an injunction against the rules.
“In addition to the federal overtime rule that California’s state labor law requires for all workers, the overtime rule for state employees violates the federal federal Fair Minimum Wage Act and Fair Labor and Fair Housing Act,” the lawsuit states.
“It also violates the California Labor Code.”
The plaintiffs, the union and its lawyers, are asking for a preliminary injunction to prevent the new regulations from taking effect on Jan. 1.
The court order is expected to be filed in early January.
The plaintiffs claim that the rules, set to take effect on July 1, violate Section 203 of the Fair Labor Standard Act, which prohibits employers from “unreasonably, without good cause, discriminating against any employee, including race, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or veteran status.”
Under Section 203, a worker who works more than 40 hours in a week is considered a “protected class.”
The workers who are subject to the new rules have to be paid overtime and have to work for an employer whose pay is not more than a “reasonable rate.”
The lawsuit argues that the changes will affect workers in more than 1,000 public sector jobs across the state, including law enforcement, social workers, teachers, health workers and janitors.
The union and the law firms behind the lawsuit are represented by the law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenbaum LLP.
California Gov.
Gavin Newsom, who signed the legislation into law, said last month that he was confident that the state would not be harmed by the new rule.
The state has seen a number of recent labor-related shootings in which one or both of the perpetrators were workers who were injured in the course of work.
The law signed by Newsom and the Democratic-controlled legislature allows employers to fire workers if the company finds that they are acting “unlawfully” or “unfavorably” towards a co-worker or employer.
The rules will also take effect nationwide on Jan 1.