CEO who fled California for Texas rips 'ridiculous' proposal for four-day workweek

A CEO who fled California for Texas ripped the "ridiculous" and "absurd" proposal for a four-day workweek in the Golden State, arguing that the move will lead to more business leaders moving out.  

Peter Rex, the CEO of Rex, a technology, investment and real estate firm that moved from California to Texas three years ago to expand its national business, argued on Wednesday that his company would not "flourish" under a 32-hour workweek. 

Rex made the comments on "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday, reacting to a bill in California that would lower the official workweek to 32 hours over four days, with overtime pay required for anything in excess of this.

The requirements under the bill would only apply to employers with at least 500 workers. The bill also states that workers' pay cannot be lowered as a result of the reduced hours.

Assembly member Cristina Garcia, one of the bill's authors, told the Los Angeles Times, that the bill was inspired by the number of people who left the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic and want a better quality of life than what they had before. She noted that the bill would not apply to workers who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

The California Chamber of Commerce came out against the legislation, adding it to its 2022 list of "job killer" bills. In a letter to the bill's other author, Assembly member Evan Low, they argued that the bill would result in increased labor costs that "will not be sustainable for many businesses."

Rex noted that his company "might survive" under a four-day workweek, "but we are certainly not going to be competitive" and won’t flourish. 

"I’m actually happy about this because it’s another absurd, sort of ridiculous thing that California is doing here that’s going to be good for America and good for the free world because California, as a result, is going to continue to lose relative strength and power and competitiveness as an economy and people are going to continue to move out because business leaders like myself are going to move out," he told host Ainsley Earhardt. 

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"These are the types of reasons why I moved out," he continued. "I built a billion-dollar company and now I am launching 10 technology startups and I’m doing it out of Texas instead of on the West Coast, and it’s largely for reasons like this."

"We need governments that empower people and Texas and places like Florida and other free states, they’re empowering people and we can see how people flourish in that environment because company leaders are in a fight for talent," Rex said, noting that "it’s so hard to get the best talent." 

"If you empower people and let them make their own decisions, leaders are going to naturally try to, through the free market system, do whatever they can to get the most elite talent," he continued. 

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"Now the reality is, if I offer a four-day workweek, I’m not going to get the most elite players," Rex added, arguing that elite talent "want challenge" and "want to go all in." 

He then argued that those kinds of people "create great things in the world and that’s what makes America very competitive."

The Assembly has yet to vote on the bill, which has been referred to the committee on labor and employment.

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FOX Business’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.