Displaced workers: notice: opportunity to transfer.

Existing law, until December 31, 2024, requires an employer, as defined, to offer certain employees laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic specified information about job positions that become available for which the laid-off employees are qualified, and to offer positions to those laid-off employees based on a preference system, in accordance with specified timelines and procedures. Existing law requires an employer that declines to recall a laid-off employee on the grounds of lack of qualifications and instead hires someone other than a laid-off employee to provide the laid-off employee a written notice within 30 days including specified reasons for the decision, and other information on those hired. Existing law prohibits an employer from taking adverse action against any laid-off employee for seeking to enforce their rights under existing law. Existing law gives the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement jurisdiction over enforcement of these provisions and prescribes enforcement, remedies, and civil penalties for violations. Existing law prohibits the imposition of criminal penalties for a violation of these provisions. Existing law authorizes the division to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations, and issue determinations and interpretations concerning existing law. This bill would require a chain employer to provide each covered worker and their exclusive representative, if any, a displacement notice at least 60 days before the expected date of closure of a covered establishment. The bill would define terms for its purposes, including defining a "covered establishment" as a chain establishment that is subject to closure resulting in layoffs of workers, a "chain" as a business in this state that consists of 100 or more establishments nationally that share a common brand and are owned and operated by the same parent company, and a "chain employer" as any person, including a corporate officer or executive, who directly or indirectly or through an agent or any other person, owns or operates a chain and employs or exercises control over the wages, hours, or working conditions of workers. A "chain employer" would also include a franchisee that owns and operates 100 or more establishments nationally under an agreement with one franchisor. This bill would require a chain employer, for a year after the closure of a covered establishment, to provide to all covered workers the opportunity to transfer to a location of the chain within 25 miles of the covered establishment subject to closure as positions become available. A franchisee subject to the bill would only be required to make an offer of transfer to a covered worker to a location within 25 miles of the covered location that the franchisee owns and operates under an agreement with one franchisor. The bill would require the chain employer to maintain a preferential transfer list of covered workers. The bill would require a chain employer to make offers of transfer to qualified covered workers based on length of service, as specified. The bill would require a covered worker who is offered a position to be given at least 5 business days, from the date of receipt, to accept or decline the offer. The bill would require a chain employer to retain for a minimum of 3 years prescribed records relating to the closure and offers of employment. The bill would prohibit a chain employer from taking adverse action against a covered worker for asserting their rights under the bill. Under the bill, the division would have jurisdiction over enforcement of these provisions. The bill would prescribe enforcement, remedies, and civil penalties for violations. The bill would prohibit the imposition of criminal penalties for a violation of these provisions. The bill would authorize the division to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations, and issue determinations and interpretations concerning existing law.