I prefer to have the power to negotiate a contract with my employer that includes being on call after work. I've used that power in the past to gain extra work for extra pay, at the cost of being woken up a half dozen times per year. For me it was a worthwhile trade off.
For my employer it made it unnecessary to hire an additional two or more additional senior engineers to cover my time off. I wasn't the only staff member in that position. For that small, not terribly profitable company that could have been the difference between staying in business or not, or having to leave California.
It looks like this bill is compatible with what you consensually negotiated anyway. This bill is for workers who haven’t negotiated compensation and limits to on call work they have forced onto them by ownership.
I have much less of a problem if that makes it opt-in than with a law that simply forbids it. Applause if that's the case here. I'm used to cases like minimum wage law, where I am forbidden to opt-in to a negotiated compensation under a fixed price, sometimes effectively blocking the bottom rungs of the human capital ladder.
For my employer it made it unnecessary to hire an additional two or more additional senior engineers to cover my time off. I wasn't the only staff member in that position. For that small, not terribly profitable company that could have been the difference between staying in business or not, or having to leave California.