13.102.070 Offer of Work to Existing Employees.
a. Subject to the limitations in this chapter, before hiring new employees, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, a covered employer shall first offer additional hours of work to existing part-time employee(s) who have worked on behalf of the employer for more than two weeks, if the part-time employee(s) are qualified to do the additional work, as reasonably and in good faith determined by the covered employer, and if the additional hours needed are not the same hours the part-time employee is scheduled to work. This section shall not be construed to require any employer to offer employees work hours paid at a premium rate under Labor Code Section 510 nor to prohibit any employer from offering such work hours. These hours will not be required to be distributed on the basis of seniority.
b. A covered employer has discretion to distribute the additional work hours among qualified part-time employees consistent with this section; provided, that: (1) the employer’s system for distribution of hours must not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age, marital or familial status, nor on the basis of family caregiving responsibilities; and (2) the employer may not distribute hours in a manner intended to avoid an increase in the number of employees working 30 or more hours per week, or with regard to the City of Berkeley, to avoid the granting of any benefits that an employee earns based on hours worked. Additionally, for the City of Berkeley, the offering of these additional hours shall not in themselves confer career status on any non-career employee or confer benefits on any non-benefitted employee, unless required by state or federal law.
c. A part-time employee may, but is not required to, accept the covered employer’s offer of additional work under this section.
1. Part-time employees shall have 24 hours to accept an offer of additional hours of work under this section, after which time the covered employer may hire new employees to work the additional hours.
2. The 24-hour period referred to in this subsection begins either when the employee receives the written offer of additional hours, or when the covered employer posts the offer of additional hours as described in subsection (d) of this section, whichever is sooner. A part-time employee who wishes to accept the additional hours must do so in writing.
d. When this section requires a covered employer to offer additional hours to existing part-time employees, the covered employer shall make the offer either in writing or by posting the offer in a conspicuous location in the workplace or electronically where notices to employees are customarily posted. (Ord. 7846-NS § 1, 2022)