Labor & Employment (Labor Standards)

Existing federal law governing immigration authorizes the importation of an alien as a nonimmigrant agricultural worker, known as an H-2A worker, if specified requirements are met, including that the employer furnish housing, as provided. Existing state law, the Employee Housing Act, requires a person operating employee housing, as defined, to obtain a permit to operate that housing from the agency that enforces the act, which can either be the Department of Housing and Community Development or a city, county, or city and county that assumes responsibility for enforcing the act. The act requires the enforcement agency to annually enter and inspect all employee housing for compliance with the act, as provided. This bill would require, for employee housing that houses an H-2A worker, the enforcement agency to conduct the above-described inspection in person, as defined, and to post the results of that inspection on its internet website. The bill would prohibit a person operating employee housing that houses an H-2A worker from receiving a permit to operate employee housing without passing that inspection. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law establishes the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, consisting of various offices and entities, including the office of the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, and the California Workforce Development Board. This bill would establish the Essential Worker Commission within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, to review, investigate, and analyze issues relating to essential workers in the state, including workplace safety and health protections and wages and benefits for undocumented workers. The bill would require the Essential Worker Commission, based on that review, investigation, and analysis, to establish the Essential Worker Legal Work Program to provide essential workers with legal pathways to remain in California and work lawfully.

Existing law sets wage, hour, meal break requirements, and other working conditions for employees and requires an employer to pay overtime wages to an employee who works in excess of a workday or workweek. Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations and provides that one of its functions is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. Existing law establishes specific labor protections for sheepherders and goat herders, as defined, relating to wages, meal and rest periods, lodging, and other conditions of employment. Existing law imposes civil penalties, as prescribed, for violations of these provisions. Existing law, the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, establishes a schedule that phases in overtime requirements for persons employed in an agricultural occupation, as defined. The act, beginning January 1, 2022, among other things, requires that any work performed by a person employed in an agricultural occupation in excess of 12 hours per day be compensated at a rate of no less than twice the employee's regular rate of pay. Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations to update a specific wage order of the Industrial Welfare Commission governing agricultural occupations to be consistent with the act, except in specified circumstances in which the existing wage order offers greater protections. The act defines the term "employed in an agricultural occupation" for these purposes as having the same meaning as in that wage order. For purposes of the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, this bill would create an exception from the above-described definition for sheepherders or goat herders, as defined in that order.

Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes the division, which is headed by the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state, the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. This bill would generally regulate the use of workplace surveillance tools and an employer's use of worker data. The bill would, among other things, require an employer, at least 30 days before introducing a workplace surveillance tool, to provide a worker who will be affected a written notice that includes, among other things, a description of the worker data to be collected, the intended purpose of the workplace surveillance tool, and how this form of worker surveillance is necessary to meet that purpose. The bill would define "employer" to include public employers, as specified. The bill would prohibit an employer from transferring, selling, disclosing, or licensing worker data to a vendor, unless the vendor is under contract to analyze or interpret the worker data and the contract includes certain terms. The bill would prohibit an employer from using certain workplace surveillance tools, including a workplace surveillance tool that incorporates facial, gait, or emotion recognition technology, except as specified. The bill would also prohibit an employer from using a workplace surveillance tool to infer specified categories of information about a worker, including, among others, their immigration status, veteran status, ancestral history, religious or political beliefs, disability status, criminal record, or credit history. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce the bill's provisions, would authorize an employee to bring a civil action for specified remedies for a violation of the bill's provisions, and would authorize a public prosecutor to enforce the provisions. The bill would subject an employer who violates the bill's provisions to a civil penalty of $500 for each violation. The bill would define various terms for purposes of its provisions.

Existing law creates in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency the Department of Industrial Relations to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. This bill would require the department to establish the California Public Infrastructure Task Force, composed of representatives of specified agencies to promote employment in public infrastructure projects for underrepresented communities and to provide compliance assistance to contractors and subcontractors in public infrastructure projects regarding their nondiscrimination obligations, as specified.

Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to administer and enforce various laws relating to employment and working conditions. This bill would require a business, as defined, to annually provide a notice to the department of all the workplace surveillance tools the employer is using in the workplace. The bill would require the notice to include, among other information, a list of the workplace surveillance tools being used that surveil employees and the categories of information being collected on employees by the workplace surveillance. The bill would also require a business to send the notice to employees and any union that represents employees of the business. The bill would make a business that violates these provisions subject to a civil penalty of $500 per violation. This bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2029, compiling the above-described notices provided by businesses. The bill would require that the report include, among other requirements, a breakdown of notices by industry type.

This measure would urge President Donald J. Trump and the Congress of the United States to approve federal legislation guaranteeing specified rights to classified workers that would, among other things, empower those workers to work in a stable, safe environment and receive livable and competitive wages, as provided.

Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes the division, which is headed by the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. This bill would limit the use of workplace surveillance tools, as defined, by employers, including by prohibiting an employer from monitoring or surveilling employees in a bathroom located in the workplace, except as specified. The bill would provide an employee with the right to leave behind workplace surveillance tools that are on their person or in their possession when entering a bathroom, except as specified. This bill would authorize the commissioner to enforce the bill's provisions, as prescribed, and would authorize a public prosecutor to bring specified enforcement actions. The bill would subject an employer who violates the bill to a civil penalty of up to $500 for each violation. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.

Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce various labor laws. Existing law requires certain employers to disclose certain salary information in job postings. This bill would require a private employer who publicly advertises a job posting to include in the posting a statement disclosing whether the posting is for a vacancy for the advertised position or not, as specified.

Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints and to provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to determine all matters arising under the commissioner's jurisdiction. Existing law makes any employer or other person acting on behalf of an employer who violates or causes to be violated specified provisions regulating hours and days of work in any order of the Industrial Welfare Commission to be subject to a civil penalty, as specified. This bill would revise and recast the provisions relating to the process for the Labor Commissioner to investigate, hold a hearing, and make determinations relating to an employee's complaint. The bill would set forth timelines for the Labor Commissioner to notify parties of an employee complaint, as provided, and for the defendant to respond, as provided. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner, if the Labor Commissioner determines to prosecute the action or that no action will be taken, to notify the parties within 30 days of receipt of the defendant's answer. If the Labor Commissioner does not make either of those determinations, the bill would require the Labor Commissioner, within 90 days of receipt of the defendant's answer, to conduct an investigation of the employee complaint, make an estimated appraisal of the amount of wages, damages, penalties, expenses, and other compensation owed, and to determine all the parties liable for the assessment. The bill would set forth a process for the Labor Commissioner's investigation, assessment, and determination, including authorizing the Labor Commissioner to issue a subpoena for records and requiring the Labor Commissioner to issue a formal complaint. This bill would require the Labor Commissioner, within 90 days of the issuance of the formal complaint, to set a hearing date and would set forth procedures for the hearing. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner, within 15 days of the hearing, or upon a failure of the defendant to answer or appear, to file in the office of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement a copy of the order, decision, or award. This bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner, in an order, decision, or award granted pursuant to specified provisions to impose an administrative fee of up to 30% of the award, as provided. The bill would require the administrative fee to be deposited into the Wage Recovery Fund, which would be created by the bill. The bill would require the money in the fund, upon appropriation, to be disbursed by the Labor Commissioner only to persons determined by the Labor Commissioner to have been damaged by the failure to pay wages and penalties and for other damages by an employer. The bill would require a disbursement to be made pursuant to a claim for recovery from the fund in accordance with procedures prescribed by the Labor Commissioner and would require any disbursed funds subsequently recovered by the Labor Commissioner from a liable party, as provided, to be returned to the fund. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to waive any or all of the administrative fee upon request by a defendant, if specified conditions are met. This bill would classify an appeal filed in a superior court relating to the Labor Commissioner's order, decision, or award as an unlimited civil case. The bill would grant a court hearing the action jurisdiction over the entire wage dispute, including related wage claims not raised in front of the Labor Commissioner, but would prohibit the court from consolidating the action with any other actions not arising out of, or related to, the underlying order, decision, or award, absent an executed agreement in writing by all parties.