California bill would require retailers, restaurants to pay their employees double on holidays

Best Buy employees line up outside the store during a Black Friday test run Nov. 22 in Alexandria, Va. (Stephanie S. Cordle for The Washington Post)

A California lawmaker said she will introduce a bill that would double the pay of employees who work over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“I’ve watched how the retailers and restaurateurs continue to expand their hours and open up on these holidays that are traditionally family holidays,” Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez told the Sacramento Bee. “What people are being called in to do now is a real slap in the face of family values, frankly.”

Gonzalez said she initially considered bringing forward a bill that would bar retailers from opening on the holidays before planning to introduce a bill requiring double pay instead. Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts have similar laws, and a New Jersey lawmaker said he planned to introduce a bill that would prohibit retailers from opening on Thanksgiving before 9 p.m.

“This is not life and death,” Gonzalez said. “This is consumerism.”