Labor & Employment

Existing law grants current and former employees, or their representative, the right to inspect and receive a copy of personnel records maintained by the employer relating to the employee's performance or to any grievance concerning the employee. Existing law requires the employer to make the contents of those personnel records available for inspection, as specified, and makes it a crime for an employer to violate these requirements. This bill would provide that personnel records relating to the employee's performance include education and training records and would require an employer who maintains education and training records to ensure those records include specified information. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Act, establishes the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority with various powers and duties relative to transportation projects and services and the operation of public transit in the County of Santa Clara. Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in state government as a means of resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of specified public employers and employees under various acts regulating collective bargaining, including the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. Existing law vests PERB with jurisdiction to enforce certain provisions related to the authority's employees, over charges of unfair practices for represented authority employees, subject to a selection by an exclusive representative. Existing law, in the case of such a selection, gives PERB jurisdiction over the initial determination as to whether those charges are justified and, if so, the appropriate remedy, subject to certain restrictions. This bill would authorize any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of PERB in an unfair practice case, except a decision of PERB not to issue a complaint in such a case, to petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from that decision or order, as specified. The bill, if the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a PERB decision or order has expired, would authorize PERB to seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or superior court having jurisdiction over the county where the events giving rise to the decision or order occurred, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the authority.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits various forms of employment and housing discrimination, including various types of discrimination because of national origin. Existing law empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices. This bill would provide that an employee's assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of their own personal bias that was made in good faith and solicited or required as part of a bias mitigation training does not constitute unlawful discrimination, as prescribed.

Existing law, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, contains various provisions that govern collective bargaining of local represented employees and delegates jurisdiction to the Public Employment Relations Board to resolve disputes and enforce the statutory duties and rights of local public agency employers and employees. Existing law requires the governing body of a public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations. Existing law requires the governing body of a public agency, and boards and commissions designated by law or by the governing body, to give reasonable written notice, except in cases of emergency, as specified, to each recognized employee organization affected of any ordinance, rule, resolution, or regulation directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the governing body or the designated boards and commissions. This bill would require the governing body of a public agency, and boards and commissions designated by law or by the governing body of a public agency, to give the recognized employee organization no less than 45 days' written notice before issuing a request for proposals, request for quotes, or renewing or extending an existing contract to perform services that are within the scope of work of the job classifications represented by the recognized employee organization, subject to certain exceptions. The bill would require the notice to include specified information, including the anticipated duration of the contract. The bill would also require the public agency, if an emergency or other exigent circumstance prevents the public agency from providing the written notice described above, to provide as much advance notice as is practicable under the circumstances. By imposing new duties on local public agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions for costs mandated by the state pursuant to this act, but would recognize that a local agency or school district may pursue any available remedies to seek reimbursement for these costs.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes the Strong Workforce Program to provide funding to career technical education regional consortia made up of community college districts and local educational agencies, as specified. Existing law requires the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to, no later than June 30, 2017, bring before the board of governors any policies, regulations, and guidance necessary to accomplish, among other things, providing work-based learning opportunities for students that increase their employability and earning potential, as provided. Existing law requires a percentage of the funds apportioned for community colleges under the program to be apportioned directly to community college districts in the consortia to fund, among other things, student grants to cover fees for third-party certification and licensing. This bill would require the chancellor's office to revise, no later than June 30, 2026, the above-described policies, regulations, and guidance necessary to provide students, employers, or both, with paid work-based learning opportunities, as provided. The bill would authorize a community college district to also use those funds apportioned directly to community college districts to provide direct support to students, employers, or both, for paid work-based learning to increase employability and employment, as provided.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, under the direction of the Director of Civil Rights, to enforce civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment and to protect and safeguard the right of all persons to obtain and hold employment without discrimination based on specified characteristics or status. Existing law prescribes various functions, duties, and powers of the department, including, among others, to bring prescribed civil actions for violations of specified federal civil rights and antidiscrimination laws. Prior law, until January 1, 2025, authorized an employee who was discriminated or retaliated against for exercising certain rights to file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in accordance with specified Labor Code provisions. These employee rights include, among other things, the right to take time off work to serve on a trial or to obtain specified crime-related relief. Existing law, as of January 1, 2025, transferred the authority to enforce these discrimination provisions from the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to the Civil Rights Department. Existing law also repealed the above-described Labor Code provisions, and added new enforcement provisions to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act within the Government Code. Among other changes, these provisions refer to a "qualifying act of violence," as defined, instead of crime, or crime or abuse, for purposes of obtaining relief. Existing law further prohibits an employer with 25 or more employees from discharging or in any manner discriminating or retaliating against an employee who is a victim or who has a family member who is a victim for taking time off work for any of a number of additional prescribed purposes relating to a qualifying act of violence, as defined. Existing law requires an employee, as a condition of taking time off, to provide the employer with reasonable advance notice, unless not feasible, in accordance with certain procedural requirements. This bill would reinstate the above-described former Labor Code provisions, to apply only to alleged actions or inactions occurring on or before December 31, 2024. This bill would also transfer enforcement authority for two additional discrimination provisions relating to attending judicial proceedings from the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to the Civil Rights Department. The bill would make other conforming changes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requires, for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2022, a direct contractor making or taking a contract in the state for the erection, construction, alteration, or repair of a building, structure, or other private work, to assume, and be liable for, any debt owed to a wage claimant or third party on the wage claimant's behalf, incurred by a subcontractor at any tier acting under, by, or for the direct contractor for the wage claimant's performance of labor included in the subject of the contract between the direct contractor and the owner. Existing law defines "direct contractor" for this purpose to mean a contractor that has a direct contractual relationship with an owner. This bill would apply the above-described provision to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2026. The bill would instead require, for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026, a direct contractor making or taking a contract in the state for the erection, construction, alteration, or repair of a building, structure, or other private work, to assume, and be liable for, any indebtedness for the performance of labor, as specified. The bill would prohibit a direct contractor from being held liable for the indebtedness with respect to fringe or other benefit contributions if they make contribution payments by joint check, as specified. The bill would define "direct contractor" for this purpose to mean a contractor that has a direct contractual relationship with an owner or any other person or entity engaging contractors or subcontractors, as specified, on behalf of the owner. Existing law provides for a streamlined, ministerial approval process or use by right for certain housing developments that meet specified requirements. Existing law requires these developments to meet specified labor standards, including, among other things, making health care expenditures for each employee, as specified. Existing law grants a joint labor-management cooperation committee standing to sue a construction contractor pursuant to the above-described liability provision for failure to make those health care expenditures. This bill would additionally grant a joint labor-management cooperation committee standing to sue pursuant to the liability provision added by this bill.

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.