Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, which generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of and in the course of their employment. Existing law entitles, among others, local law enforcement and probation officers and firefighters employed on a regular full-time basis to a leave of absence without loss of salary while disabled by injury or illness arising out of and in the course of their duties. Existing law provides that a leave of absence under those provisions is in lieu of temporary disability payments or maintenance allowance payments otherwise payable under the workers' compensation system. This bill would expand these provisions to entitle specified peace officers who are employed on a regular, full-time basis by a county of the eighth class, as defined, to this leave of absence.
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. Existing labor law also prohibits an employer or other person or entity from engaging in, or to directing another person or entity to engage in, unfair immigration-related practices against a person for exercising specified rights. Existing law defines unfair immigration-related practices for these purposes. Existing law additionally makes it unlawful for an employer to request more or different immigration documents than are required under federal law, to refuse to honor documents tendered that reasonably appear to be genuine, and to take other related actions concerning employee work authorization documents. Existing law authorizes an applicant for employment or an employee who is subject to an unlawful act that is prohibited by these provisions, or a representative of that applicant for employment or employee, to file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Existing law establishes specified civil penalties for a violation of these provisions. This bill would require each employee, upon request, to be released by their employer for up to 5 unpaid working days within a 12-month period in order to attend appointments, interviews, adjudications, legal proceedings, detainment, or any other meeting at which the employee's presence is required concerning the employee's immigration status, work authorization, visa status, or any other immigration-related matter, as specified. The bill would also require a postintroductory employee, as defined, whose employment has been terminated due to an inability to provide documentation of proper work authorization, to be immediately reinstated to their former classification without loss in seniority, subject to producing proper work authorization, except as provided. The bill would also require an employer, if the employee demonstrates a need for additional time, to rehire the employee into the next available opening in the employee's former classification, as a new hire without retaining seniority, subject to the employee providing proper work authorization and meeting certain other conditions. This bill would require an employer that is notified that an employee has been detained or incarcerated as a result of pending immigration or deportation proceedings, to place the employee on an unpaid leave of absence for a period pending the employee's release from detainment or incarceration and not to exceed 12 months. If the employee is released and provides appropriate work authorization documentation within the period of the authorized unpaid leave of absence, the bill would require the employer to return the employee to their former job classification without loss of seniority, except as specified. This bill would apply the above requirements to a public or private employer, but would exempt a public or private employer with 25 or fewer employees. The bill would prohibit each public or private employer from disciplining, discharging, or discriminating against an employee because of national origin or immigration status, or solely because the employee is subject to immigration or deportation proceedings, except as required to comply with the law. The bill would prohibit an employee subject to immigration or deportation proceedings from being discharged solely because of those proceedings, so long as the employee is authorized to work in the United States. This bill would provide that its provisions do not invalidate a collective bargaining agreement or a memorandum of understanding that contains a provision addressing rehire or reinstatement rights or leave rights regarding employees who are subject to immigration proceedings, nor does it supersede the seniority provisions of a collective bargaining agreement or a memorandum of understanding. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce the bill's provisions. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2029, and would repeal them on January 1, 2030.
Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations and sets forth its powers and duties regarding the enforcement of labor laws. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to investigate employee complaints and to provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation, as specified. Existing law provides that the judgment creditor, or the commissioner, as assignee of the judgment creditor, is entitled to court costs and reasonable attorney's fees for enforcing the judgment, as specified. This bill would instead require that the judgment creditor, or the Labor Commissioner or public prosecutor as assignee of the judgment creditor, be awarded the above-described court costs and reasonable attorney's fees. Existing law provides for enforcement if a final judgment against an employer arising from the employer's nonpayment of wages for work performed in this state remains unsatisfied after specified periods of time, including prohibiting the employer from conducting business in the state, as specified, if a final judgment against the employer remains unsatisfied for 30 days. This bill would additionally require the judgment debtor to be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed 3 times the outstanding judgment amount if a final judgment arising from the nonpayment of work performed in this state remains unsatisfied after a period of 180 days, as provided. The bill would require a court to award a prevailing plaintiff all reasonable attorney's fees and costs in any action brought by a judgment creditor, the commissioner, or a public prosecutor to enforce a final judgment arising from the nonpayment of wages, penalties, or other amounts owed arising from work performed in this state, as provided. This bill would also make findings and declarations related to its provisions.
Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and requires the department to be conducted under the control of an executive officer known as the Director of Industrial Relations. Existing law states that the function of the department, among other things, 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 and vests the department with responsibility for administering the state plan for the development and enforcement of occupational safety and health standards relating to issues covered by corresponding standards adopted pursuant to federal law. Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the department to adopt occupational safety and health standards for the state, including standards dealing with exposure to harmful airborne contaminants. Existing law requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the department to enforce all occupational safety and health standards, as specified. A violation of these standards and regulations under specific circumstances is a crime. Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 (OSHA) , requires employers to comply with certain safety and health standards, as specified, and charges the Division of Occupational Safety and Health with enforcement of the act. OSHA defines "serious injury or illness" for purposes of the act to mean any injury or illness occurring in a place of employment or in connection with any employment that results in one of a list of conditions, including inpatient hospitalization, as provided, the loss of a member of the body, any serious degree of permanent disfigurement, and impairment sufficient to cause a part of the body or the function of an organ to become permanently and significantly reduced in efficiency on or off the job, as specified. Under OSHA, certain knowing, negligent, or willful violations of safety and health standards are punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would add silicosis and silica-related lung cancer to the list of conditions that, if resulting from an injury or illness occurring in a place of employment or in connection with an employment, would constitute a "serious injury or illness." By expanding the scope of a crime under OSHA, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. OSHA creates a rebuttable presumption that a "serious violation" exists in a place of employment if the division demonstrates that there is a realistic possibility that death or serious physical harm could result from the actual hazard created by the violation. OSHA defines "serious physical harm" for purposes of that provision. This bill would expand that definition of "serious physical harm" to include silicosis and silica-related lung cancer. The bill would impose restrictions on specified high-exposure trigger tasks on artificial stone, as those terms are defined. Specifically, a person or entity engaged in high-exposure trigger tasks would be prohibited from using dry methods, and would be required to use effective wet methods when engaging in any high-exposure trigger tasks. The bill would make a violation of these provisions grounds for, among other disciplinary action, an immediate order by the division prohibiting continued work. The bill would require the division to enforce these provisions by issuing a citation alleging a violation and a notice of civil penalty. The bill would require the owner or operator of a fabrication shop, or any individual who will employ another individual to perform high-exposure trigger tasks in a fabrication shop, to ensure that an employee who will perform high-exposure tasks receives specified training and, beginning on July 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to attest to the division that these employees have been trained. The bill would require the division to enforce these provisions by issuing a citation alleging a violation and a notice of civil penalty. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to consider a report of silicosis related to occupational exposure to artificial stone a serious illness and to report that case to the division. The bill would require the division, if it receives such a report, to subject the employer or place of employment to investigation, as specified. The bill would require the division to notify the State Department of Public Health of any cases of silicosis related to artificial stone identified through enforcement activities. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to conduct specified activities to address silicosis risk exposure in fabrication shops, including providing technical assistance to local health jurisdictions engaged in silicosis surveillance and prevention activities. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. The bill would make findings and declarations related to these provisions. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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 imposes varying requirements upon employers to share the pay scale for a position with an applicant or in a job posting, as provided. Existing law defines "pay scale" as the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position. This bill would revise the definition of "pay scale" to mean an estimate of this expected wage range that an employer reasonably expects to pay for the position upon hire and is made in good faith. Existing law prohibits an employer from paying its employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex or another race or ethnicity for substantially similar work, except under specified circumstances. Existing law requires a civil action to recover wages for a violation of those provisions to be commenced no later than 2 years after the cause of action occurs or, if the cause of action arises out of a willful violation, no later than 3 years after the cause of action occurs. This bill would prohibit an employer from paying employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of another sex instead of the opposite sex, and would require a civil action to recover wages to be commenced no later than 3 years after the last date the cause of action occurs. The bill would provide that an employee is entitled to obtain relief for the entire period of time in which a violation of its provisions exists, but not to exceed 6 years. This bill would specify that a cause of action occurs when an alleged unlawful compensation decision or practice is adopted, when an individual becomes subject to the decision or practice, or when an individual is affected by the application of the decision or practice. The bill would provide that its provisions do not prohibit the application of prescribed legal doctrine. The bill would define "wages," "wage rates," and "sex" for purposes of those provisions, and would specify that its provisions shall not be construed to define these terms for other purposes.
Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. Under the ABC test, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of the ABC test described above. Existing law, instead, provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the multifactor test previously adopted in the case of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. Existing law includes an exemption for services provided by a licensed manicurist, subject to the manicurist meeting specified conditions, and makes this exemption for licensed manicurists inoperative on January 1, 2025. This bill would delete the January 1, 2025, inoperative date, and, instead, until January 1, 2029, reapply the above-specified exemption to certain licensed manicurists. The bill would also require the Employment Development Department and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to, by June 1, 2026, report to the Legislature the annual number of allegations of misclassification or other specified violations involving licensed manicurists since January 1, 2020, as specified. Existing law also provides an exemption for a commercial fisher working on an American vessel, as defined. Existing law makes those commercial fishers eligible for unemployment insurance benefits subject to certain conditions, and requires the Employment Development Department to issue an annual report, on March 1, to the Legislature on the use of unemployment insurance in the commercial fishing industry, as provided. Existing law makes these various provisions related to commercial fishers working on an American vessel inoperative on January 1, 2026. This bill would extend the inoperative date to January 1, 2031, and, thereby, until January 1, 2031, reapply the above-specified exemption to those commercial fishers, as prescribed. The bill would change the above-described annual reporting date from March 1 to June 30.
Existing law declares the public policy of the state regarding labor organization, including, among other things, that it is necessary for a worker to have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment, and to be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. Existing law, the Protect App-Based Drivers and Services Act, added by Proposition 22, as approved by the voters at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election (the initiative) , categorizes app-based drivers for network companies, as defined, as independent contractors if certain conditions are met. Existing law requires, among other things, that the network company provide a health care subsidy to qualifying app-based drivers, provide a minimum level of compensation for app-based drivers, and not restrict app-based drivers from working in any other lawful occupation or business. Existing case law holds that specified provisions of the initiative are invalid on separation of powers grounds; however, the court severed the unconstitutional provisions, allowing the rest of the initiative to remain in effect. Existing law also establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (board) 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. Existing law vests the board with jurisdiction to enforce certain provisions over charges of unfair practices for represented employees. This bill, the Transportation Network Company Drivers Labor Relations Act (act) , would establish that transportation network company (TNC) drivers have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of TNC driver organizations, to bargain through representatives of their own choosing, to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and to refrain from such activities. The bill would require the board to enforce these provisions. This bill would require all TNCs to submit certain information every quarter, including information identifying and related personal work information about TNC drivers to the board in a list format, as prescribed. The bill would establish various procedures governing the certification and decertification of TNC driver organizations for purposes of representing drivers in the collective bargaining process. In this connection, the bill would require the board to determine if an entity is a TNC driver organization, as prescribed, and make certain determinations as to whether a specific organization has been designated as the bargaining representative for TNC drivers pursuant to an election process. The bill would establish various notice requirements, conditions, and timelines governing the representation of TNC drivers. The bill would, among other things, require TNCs and certified driver bargaining organizations to negotiate in good faith pursuant to the act, as described, and would set forth procedures for mediation and arbitration for purposes of reaching a sectoral agreement. The bill would set forth procedures and guidelines for the board to approve or disapprove sectoral agreements. The bill would require a TNC that was not a covered TNC when a sectoral agreement took effect but subsequently became a covered TNC to be bound by all terms of the sectoral agreement, as specified. This bill would make it an unfair practice for a TNC, an agent of a TNC, or a multicompany committee, as defined, to fail or refuse to negotiate in good faith with a certified driver bargaining organization, among other things. The bill would also make it an unfair practice for a certified driver bargaining organization or its agents to fail to negotiate in good faith with a TNC or multicompany committee, among other things. The bill would set forth unfair practice charge procedures and remedies for those practices. The bill would define terms for purposes of the act, make the provisions of the act severable, and make related legislative policy statements. Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, generally requires all meetings of a state body to be open and public. This bill would exempt any meeting of a mediator or arbitrator with any party or group to the negotiations process and the mediation and arbitration processes in the act from the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting act. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. This bill would exclude from public disclosure information regarding TNC drivers that is submitted to the board pursuant to the act, except as specified. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to, among other things, foster, promote, and develop the welfare of wage earners, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. This bill would, until January 1, 2031, require the department, upon appropriation of funds for this purpose, to establish and maintain the California Workplace Outreach Program to promote awareness of, and compliance with, workplace protections that affect workers. The bill would require the department to issue a competitive request for application for qualified organizations, as defined, to provide education and outreach services to workers and to assist workers to assert their workplace rights. This bill would require the department to guide discussions with qualified organizations regarding priority topics for outreach and education and to consult with those organizations and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and, as relevant, its departments and boards to create education and outreach materials informing workers of their rights on priority topics and training materials for workers and organizations. The bill would require the materials to be translated into non-English languages, to be determined by the department in consultation with each qualified organization, as appropriate for the geographic region the qualified organization serves, and would require the materials to be made in consultation and collaboration with the Civil Rights Department if those materials involve protections under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act or certain other statutes. The bill would require the department and qualified organizations to meet at least twice a year to coordinate outreach and education efforts and for qualified organizations to share information relevant to enforcement activities of the department.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system to compensate employees for injuries sustained in the course of their employment. Existing law creates a disputable presumption that specified injuries sustained in the course of employment of a specified member of law enforcement or a specified first responder arose out of and in the course of employment. Existing law authorizes the Department of Industrial Relations to expend moneys that have been appropriated for the administration and enforcement of laws under its jurisdiction, as well as for the maintenance of any commission or office of the department, as specified. Existing law establishes the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund within the State Treasury. Existing law requires the director to levy a surcharge upon employers in order to fund, among other things, the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, existing law authorizes funds to be expended for, among other things, the Return-to-Work Program and the enforcement of the insurance coverage program. Existing law establishes a Workers' Compensation Appeals Board and sets forth various proceedings that are required to be brought forth before the board. Existing law provides that the appeals board is vested with full power, authority, and jurisdiction to try and determine finally all the matters specified in those proceedings subject only to the review by the courts, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2031, create a disputable presumption that a heat-related injury that develops within a specified timeframe after working outdoors for an employer in the agriculture industry that fails to comply with heat illness prevention standards, as defined, arose out of and came in the course of employment. The bill would require the appeals board to find in favor of the employee if the employer fails to rebut the presumption. The bill would specify that compensation awarded for heat-related injury to farmworkers is to include, among other things, medical treatment and disability. The bill would prohibit a determination by the appeals board from having any effect in certain investigations and would prohibit that determination from being admissible in proceedings before the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board. The bill would establish the Farmworker Climate Change Heat Injury and Death Fund that would consist of a one-time transfer of $5,000,000 derived from nongeneral funds of the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund for the purpose of administrative costs associated with this presumption. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law declares the public policy of the state regarding labor organization, including, among other things, that it is necessary for a worker to have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment, and to be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. 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. Under existing law, PERB has the power and duty to investigate an unfair practice charge and to determine whether the charge is justified and the appropriate remedy for the unfair practice. Existing law, the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) , establishes a comprehensive statutory scheme regulating unfair labor practices on the part of employers and labor organizations in industries affecting interstate commerce, and vests in the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) the power to conduct elections to determine employee representatives and to prevent unfair labor practices affecting commerce. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires that public records, as defined, be available to the public for inspection and made promptly available to any person. This bill would expand PERB's jurisdiction by authorizing a worker, to petition PERB to protect and enforce prescribed rights under specified circumstances, including if the worker is employed in a position subject to the NLRA but the NLRB has expressly or impliedly ceded jurisdiction. The bill would authorize PERB to, among other things, decide unfair labor practice cases pursuant to a specified timeline and order all appropriate relief for a violation, including civil penalties, as prescribed. In order to pursue relief from PERB, the bill would require a covered worker or their representative to file an unfair practice charge or petition that includes specified information, including, where applicable, the original charge or petition filed with the NLRB. The bill would require PERB to hold the supporting documentation and evidence confidential and maintain it as part of its investigatory file and would exempt this documentation and evidence from the California Public Records Act. If PERB determines, among other things, it has insufficient resources to process certain cases or doing so would prevent it from meeting specified statutory deadlines, the bill would require PERB to process and prioritize charges, as specified. The bill would also establish the Public Employment Relations Board Enforcement Fund (fund) in the State Treasury, would require the above-described civil penalties to be deposited into the fund, and would make moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature to PERB for the purpose of administering the above-specified provisions. The bill would authorize PERB to rely on its own decisions and precedent under the NLRA and would authorize review of its decisions by a state appellate court, as specified. Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining, as specified, and prohibits agricultural employers and labor organizations from engaging in unfair labor practices. Those provisions establish the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) and empower the ALRB to prevent any person from engaging in those practices. Existing law establishes various definitions for these purposes. Existing law requires the ALRB to follow applicable precedents of the NLRA. This bill would specify that the ALRB has exclusive jurisdiction in all phases of the administration of the act, and to determine whether any person or entity meets one or more of those definitions. The bill would instead authorize the board to follow applicable precedents of the NLRA, but would not obligate the board to follow precedents where the ALRB deems it inappropriate to do so. This bill would make related findings and declarations and would make its provisions severable. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
