Auchmoody

Here we are asked to decide whether the trial court erred when it ruled the “24-hour agreements” signed by employees conformed to Wage Order 9-80, subsection 3(G) and were not waiver agreements. We find it did not and affirm judgments entered in favor of respondent.

Facts

Respondent, 911 Emergency Services, provides ambulance and paramedic services to the general public of Santa Barbara and several other counties in California. Appellants are paramedics and emergency medical technicians previously or currently employed by respondent in Santa Barbara County. Under the terms of their employment, they worked 24-hour shifts.

The California Labor Code empowers the California Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) to establish conditions of employment for all employees in the state. (Industrial Welfare Com. v. Superior Court (1980) 27 Cal.3d 690, 701 [ 166 Cal.Rptr. 331 , 613 P.2d 579 ].) In 1980, the IWC promulgated wage and hour regulations currently in effect which govern calculation and payment of overtime compensation. Wage Order 9-80, subsection 3(A) provides for a basic eight-hour workday and a forty-hour workweek and specifies the applicable rate of overtime for hours…