"but will respond tonight if you disagree with me--as I'm sure you will."

I can not disagree as I know nothing about CA.
But, a graveyard dealer that comes in to no game and has to stay the full 8 hours in case a game starts is taxed by the hour whether he deals or not. If he plays the 8 hours because there are too many dealers, he is still taxed.

Poker dealers have it better than pit dealers. Pit dealers split tokes so there are records, therefore they get hit for 100%.