Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment, which, in the case of the death of an employee, includes a death benefit. Existing law governs temporary and permanent disability indemnity payments and prohibits a payment made by a written instrument unless it is immediately negotiable and payable in cash, among other things. Existing law, until January 1, 2027, allows an employer to commence a program under which disability indemnity payments are deposited in a prepaid card account for employees. This bill would extend the authorization to deposit indemnity payments in a prepaid card account indefinitely.
Existing law, the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, administered by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) , provides for negotiations concerning wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between a higher education employer, as defined, and representatives of recognized employee organizations. Existing law grants higher education employees the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations and for the purpose of meeting and conferring with their employer. Existing law authorizes an employer and an exclusive representative who enter into a written memorandum of understanding to agree to procedures for final and binding arbitration of disputes that may arise under the memorandum of understanding or between the parties. Existing law makes it unlawful for the higher education employer to, among other things, refuse or fail to meet and confer with an exclusive representative. This bill would, with respect to arbitrations over violations of a collective bargaining agreement for the contracting out of bargaining unit work, make it an unfair practice for a higher education employer to, among other things, circumvent or disregard an arbitrator's decision by extending or renewing an existing contract or entering into a new contract for the same or similar services at the same location, or violating a contract term already interpreted by an arbitrator to prohibit the employer's conduct. This bill would prohibit PERB, among other things, from deferring repeat offenses in the above-described cases to subsequent arbitration proceedings. The bill would require remedies for a violation of these provisions to include the charging party's attorney's fees and costs.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, except as specified, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer with 5 or more employees to include on any application for employment, before the employer makes a conditional offer of employment to the applicant, any question that seeks the disclosure of an applicant's conviction history, to consider the conviction history of the applicant until after the employer has made a conditional offer of employment to the applicant, or to distribute information about an arrest not followed by conviction, referral to or participation in a pretrial or posttrial diversion program, or convictions that have been sealed, dismissed, expunged, or statutorily eradicated or any conviction for which the convicted person has received a full pardon or has been issued a certificate of rehabilitation while conducting a conviction history background check in connection with an application for employment, as specified. This bill would define the term "conviction or arrest record," for these purposes. The bill would include among those things that it is unlawful for an employer with 5 or more employees to do while conducting a conviction history background check in connection with an application for employment, asking any question that directly or indirectly seeks consent for a conviction history background check or requesting consent for or beginning a conviction history background check before providing the applicant with a list of all essential job duties, requiring a job applicant to cover the cost of a conviction history background check, or requiring any time before or after the conditional job offer, that an applicant self-disclose conviction history or provide the employer with any documentary evidence related to conviction history or rehabilitation, as specified. Existing law requires an employer that intends to deny an applicant a position of employment solely or in part because of the applicant's conviction history to make an individualized assessment of whether the applicant's conviction history has a direct and adverse relationship with the specific duties of the job that justify denying the applicant the position considering specified factors. This bill, instead, would prohibit an employer from denying an applicant a position of employment or taking any other adverse action solely or in part because of the applicant's conviction history unless the employer first, reasonably and in good faith, demonstrates via an individualized assessment, that the applicant's conviction history has a direct and adverse relationship with the specific duties of the job that justifies denying the applicant the position and it complies with a specified process. The bill would require the employer to commit the results of the individualized assessment to writing if it makes a decision to deny a position of employment or takes any adverse action. The bill would specify that it is not an adverse action for an employer to temporarily suspend an employee, with pay and for a reasonable amount of time, while the employer complies with the requirements of these provisions. Existing law makes these provisions inapplicable to a position as a farm labor contractor, as specified or to a position where an employer or agent thereof is required by any state, federal, or local law to conduct criminal background checks for employment purposes or to restrict employment based on criminal history. This bill would remove the exemption for farm labor contractors.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee, as defined, for injuries that arise out of, and in the course of, employment. Existing law requires employers to provide medical, surgical, chiropractic, acupuncture, licensed clinical social worker, and hospital treatment reasonably required to cure or relieve the injured worker from the effects of the injury. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to discharge, threaten to discharge, or discriminate against, or for an insurer to advise, direct, or threaten an insured to discharge, an employee because they have filed or made known their intention to file a claim for compensation, or an application for adjudication, or because the employee has received a rating, award, or settlement, as specified. This bill would require an employee, when possible, to make a reasonable effort to schedule treatment outside of work hours. The bill would require the employee, if the timing of the treatment is foreseeable, to provide notice if treatment occurs during work hours, as specified, and require the employer to provide this leave during work hours unless business necessity requires the treatment to occur at a different time or on a different day. The bill would require that the leave taken by an employee pursuant to these provisions run concurrently with leave taken pursuant to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the California Family Rights Act if the employee would have been eligible for that leave. If an employer denies an employee's request to attend scheduled treatment, and the employer knows or should know that a business necessity does not require the treatment to occur at a different time or on a different day, the bill would make that denial a misdemeanor. The bill would also make it a misdemeanor for an employer to discharge, threaten to discharge, or discriminate against an employee because the employee requested or took leave pursuant to these provisions. By creating new crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make other conforming changes. 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 provides for various employment programs to assist formerly incarcerated individuals in finding and retaining employment, including the Pre-Release Construction Trades Certificate Program administered by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Prison to Employment Program administered by the California Workforce Development Board. Existing law establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. This bill would, by January 1, 2028, require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, in partnership with the Department of Industrial Relations, to establish the Preapprenticeship Pathways to Employment Pilot Program. The bill would, until January 1, 2032, provide incarcerated individuals access to preapprenticeship training in the skilled construction and building trades. The bill would require the program to provide, among other things, instruction based on the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum and content coordinated with joint apprenticeship training committees. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement the program at one men's facility and one women's facility. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, beginning January 1, 2029, to annually report certain data regarding participation in the program to the Legislature.
Existing law regulates the operation of ports and harbors. Existing law requires a person providing labor or services for remuneration to be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that certain conditions are satisfied, including that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact. This bill would require a trucking company, and a truck driver who is not classified as an employee by a trucking company, to provide to a port, defined to mean the Port of Long Beach or the Port of Los Angeles, certain information, including, with respect to a trucking company, a sworn affirmation by the trucking company that the trucking company is withholding all required taxes from the wages of any truck driver who is considered an employee under state law, as specified. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require, beginning January 1, 2027, that information to be made publicly available by the port. The bill would require a trucking company to update a port within 30 days of a change to its operation that results in more than 50% of its employees being replaced by independent contractors and would impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for failure to do so. The bill would make a person who provides false or misleading information for the purpose of representing compliance with those requirements liable for a civil penalty of $20,000, as prescribed. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2027, a port, on a quarterly basis, to publish on its internet website specified information regarding each truck that entered the port during the prior quarter. The bill would require a port, upon request of the Labor Commissioner, to provide to the Labor Commissioner additional information in the possession of the port regarding a truck that entered the port. By imposing new duties on a port, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law provides that the California Workforce Development Board is responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system, including the development of a state plan to serve as a framework for, among other things, training programs to address the state's economic, demographic, and workforce needs. Existing law, in order to support the plan, requires the board to, among other things, establish initial and subsequent eligibility criteria for an eligible training provider list, in accordance with specified federal law. This bill would prohibit an approved training provider from being removed from the eligible training provider list if the provider has submitted verification of completion of continued eligibility requirements through a local workforce development board, except as provided. The bill would require continued eligibility review to be conducted once every 2 fiscal years, in a manner determined by the Employment Development Department.
Existing law establishes in the Department of Industrial Relations the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement under the direction of the Labor Commissioner and authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints and recover civil penalties for violations of labor law, as prescribed. Existing law requires an employer who pays wages to a resident employee for services performed either within or without this state, or to a nonresident employee for services performed in this state, to deduct and withhold from those wages a sum which is substantially equivalent to the amount of tax reasonably estimated to be due under the Personal Income Tax Law resulting from the inclusion in the gross income of the employee of the wages which were subject to withholding. Existing law requires the Employment Development Department to have the powers and duties necessary to administer the reporting, collection, refunding to the employer, and enforcement of taxes required to be withheld by employers, as described above. This bill would require, within 60 days of a final judgment being entered against an employer requiring payment to an employee or to the state, as specified, the judgment debtor employer to provide documentation to the Labor Commissioner that the judgment is fully satisfied, a certain bond has been posted, or the judgment debtor entered into an agreement for the judgment to be paid in installments, as prescribed, and is in compliance with that agreement. The bill would make a judgment debtor employer who fails to comply with that provision liable for a civil penalty. The bill would require, if a judgment debtor employer does not comply with that provision, the Labor Commissioner to provide written notice to the judgment debtor employer that the Labor Commissioner will submit the unsatisfied judgment to the Tax Support Division of the Employment Development Department as a notice of potential tax fraud, as prescribed, and that the civil penalty is due within 90 days of the notice.
This measure would condemn decisions by the administrations of President Donald J. Trump to terminate or curtail Temporary Protected Status designations for people from specified nations, denounce federal policies that strip lawful status from long-residing individuals, as specified, and urge Congress to enact bipartisan legislation that provides a path to permanent residency and citizenship for individuals with Temporary Protected Status.
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The existing Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee, as defined, for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law requires every employer to secure the payment of workers' compensation as provided by law and imposes civil and criminal penalties on employers that fail to secure the payment of workers' compensation. Existing law authorizes an employer, pursuant to this provision, to insure against liability in insurers duly authorized to write compensation insurance in the state or to secure from the Director of Industrial Relations a certificate of consent to self-insure. This bill would authorize the administrative director or their agent to require an employer that is licensed or required to be licensed under MAUCRSA to provide proof that it has secured payment of workers' compensation to the administrative director or their agent. The bill would authorize the administrative director or their agent to establish a schedule for compliance that includes dates for when a licensee may be required to comply with these requirements. The bill would require the administrative director to provide assistance to any employer or entity that notifies the administrative director that it has been unable to obtain coverage and authorize the administrative director to extend the deadline for compliance, and would exempt any employer that secures the payment of workers' compensation pursuant to these provisions from civil or criminal liability for prior failure to secure the payment of compensation. The bill would authorize the administrative director to contract with one or more agents to assist employers in complying with these provisions, as specified.
