Court Opinion

ID: 9722678
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:44:40.069092+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:38.584946
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
In this case, there is little difference in practical effect between the amount of damages the majority opinion would allow and the damages which would be achieved were the rationale of this dissent to prevail. Nonetheless, I write separately to express my disagreement, in part, with the rationale of the majority opinion. In particular, I disagree with the majority’s argument that agreements to ex-*49elude sleep time for ambulance drivers need not be in writing under controlling California law.1
It does not require a lengthy opinion to explain the grounds of my disagreement because all that is required is strict construction of the crystal clear language of the relevant order issued by the California regulatory body with jurisdiction over the wages and hours of California ambulance drivers. That language, as will be recalled, expressly states: “The daily overtime provisions of subsection (A) shall not apply to ambulance drivers and attendants scheduled for twenty-four (24) hour shifts of duty who have agreed in writing to exclude from daily time worked not more than three (3) meal periods of not more than one hour each and a regularly scheduled uninterrupted sleeping period of not more than eight (8) hours.” (IWC Order 9-80, § 3(G), italics added.)
By its terms this requires exclusions from “time worked” to be in writing. In the absence of a written agreement the “time worked” includes hours which indeed may be part of a regularly scheduled uninterrupted sleeping period.
The majority looks at a comparable provision in the federal regulations (29 C.F.R. § 785.22), as well as federal cases interpreting this provision and defining “work time.” They treat this federal law as dispositive in interpreting Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Order 9-80, section 3(G). Using a convoluted reading of these federal interpretations of federal law, the majority, in turn, concludes ambulance drivers can exclude sleep and meal time from work time through an oral agreement. However, this argument overlooks the well-settled, commonsense principle that federal interpretations of the federal labor laws are not controlling in any sense where, as here, the language and intent of IWC orders differ in language and intent from the federal statutes and regulations. (Skyline Homes, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1985) 165 Cal.App.3d 239 [211 Cal.Rptr. 792].)
California’s IWC orders differ from federal law in three salient respects. First, California law defines “hours worked” differently than federal law. Indeed, the Fair Labor Standards Act does not specifically define “hours worked.” The controlling federal definition, therefore, is found in a Supreme Court opinion which includes “all the time during which an employee is necessarily required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty or at a *50prescribed work place.” (Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co. (1946) 328 U.S. 680, 690-691 [90 L.Ed. 1515, 1525, 66 S.Ct. 1187].) Federal regulations, in turn, interpret this to exclude from “work time” periods during which the employee is at the employer’s premises but “relieved of all duty.” (See, e.g., 29 C.F.R. § 785.19(b) excluding meal hours required to be taken on the employer’s premises while the employee is relieved of other duties.)
Contrast this federal interpretation with the California definition that considers “hours worked” to include all “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of the employer, and includes all the time the employee is suffered or permitted to work, whether or not required to do so. . . .” (IWC Order 9-80, § 2(G).) An ambulance driver who is sleeping in a designated sleeping area may well not be “on duty” or “at a prescribed work place.” However, he or she is definitely “subject to the control of the employer.” Thus, in the absence of some specific exception, such as provided in IWC Order 9-80, section 3(G), his or her sleep and mealtime counts as “hours worked” under the California rules.
California and federal law next differ in the types of employees permitted to agree to exclude sleep and mealtime. The California provision is expressly limited to ambulance drivers and attendants. (IWC Order 9-80, § 3(G).) The federal regulation contains no such limitation. (29 C.F.R. § 785.22.) Language and interpretations aimed at authorizing agreements in a wide range of occupations and employment situations have little relevance in construing a narrow exception targeted on a single category of employee working in a single industry. Obviously regulators can define the terms and conditions of the exception with more precision when they know which sort of employees and what type of work place they are addressing. They need have less fear the regulation will trigger unforeseen consequences in some industry they had not considered when drafting the regulation.
Third, and most importantly, California and federal law differ in the requirement the exclusion of sleep and mealtime from “hours worked” be in the form of a written agreement. The comparable federal regulation (29 C.F.R. § 785.22) contains no requirement the agreement be in writing. The California one does—in no uncertain terms. (IWC Order 9-80, § 3(G).)
There is no dispute appellant ambulance company failed to abide by the requirement to obtain written agreements from respondent ambulance drivers. Accordingly, this time counts as “hours worked” as defined in IWC Order 9-80, section 2(G) despite any oral agreements that might have existed. As a result, I would hold respondents are entitled to compensation for those hours.
*51I am not persuaded to a different conclusion by the curious argument appellant makes, supported by self-serving declarations of doubtful admissibility, that IWC Order 9-80, section 3(G) does not define the terms under which sleep and mealtime can be excluded from “hours worked” for California ambulance drivers.
The majority accepts this argument which starts with the assertion the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) as well as federal regulators accept the federal definition of “hours worked” and the circumstances under which “sleep time” can be excluded. However, DLSE filed an amicus curiae brief in this case taking a position directly opposite. DLSE pointed out California law has an express definition of “hours worked,” which definition is different from the one arrived at in federal judicial opinions. DLSE takes the position it is California law which defines “hours worked” in such a broad way as to encompass sleep time and it is California law which defines the terms and conditions under which this narrow class of employees—ambulance drivers and attendants—can be deprived of compensation for their sleep time.
For reasons expressed above, I agree with the DLSE view of these California regulations governing wages and hours in California workplaces. True, in this instance these regulations afford somewhat greater protections for California workers than they would enjoy under federal law. But that was their intent. In my view, we should implement not defeat that intent.
A petition for a rehearing was denied October 25, 1990.

 Despite this interpretation of the law, the majority decides the respondent ambulance drivers are entitled to pay for “sleep time” for any night they were denied eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. They reach this conclusion because the alleged oral agreements evidently only excluded sleep time if the driver actually enjoyed eight uninterrupted hours.