Employment: unfair immigration-related practices.

(1) Under existing law, it is unlawful for an employer or any other person or entity to engage in, or to direct another person or entity to engage in, unfair immigration-related practices against any person for the purpose of, or with the intent of, retaliating against any person for exercising any right protected under the Labor Code or by any local ordinance applicable to employees, as specified. This bill would make it unlawful for an employer to knowingly destroy, conceal, remove, confiscate, or possess any actual or purported passport or other immigration document, or any other actual or purported government identification document of another person in the course of committing, or with the intent to commit, trafficking, peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or a coercive labor practice. The bill would impose specified civil and criminal penalties for a violation. The bill would also authorize the Labor Commissioner to issue a citation for a violation, as prescribed. By imposing criminal penalties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require an employer to post a prescribed workplace notice with information including the right to maintain custody and control of immigration documents and that the withholding of immigration documents by an employer is a crime. The bill would require an employer to provide to an employee a document entitled the "Worker's Bill of Rights," to be developed and made available to employers by the Department of Industrial Relations on or before July 1, 2021, either before verifying an employee's employment authorization pursuant to federal law governing the employment of unauthorized aliens for an employee hired on or after July 1, 2021, or, if hired before July 1, 2021, when the department makes the document available. The bill would require an employer to provide the document in a language understood by the employee and to require such an employee to sign and date the document in acknowledgment that the employee has read and understood the employee's rights. The bill would require the employer to keep the signed document in its records for at least 3 years and to give the employee a copy of the signed document. The bill would grant an employer a 30-day period to correct a failure to provide an employee the document. (2) 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.