AB 2732: Employment: unfair immigration-related practices: janitorial workers: sexual violence and harassment prevention training.

(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 Workers Bill of Rights, to be developed and made available to employers by the Department of Industrial Relations on or before July 1, 2019, either prior to verifying an employees employment authorization pursuant to federal law governing the employment of unauthorized alien for an employee hired on or after July 1, 2019, or, if hired before July 1, 2019, 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 employees 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.

(2)Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. The division is headed by the Labor Commissioner and the department is headed by the Director of Industrial Relations. Existing law establishes certain protections for janitorial workers, including a requirement that the division, by January 1, 2019, establish a biennial in-person sexual violence and harassment prevention training requirement for certain employees and employers with the assistance of a prescribed advisory committee to be convened by the director. Existing law, effective July 1, 2018, requires employers of at least one employee and one or more covered workers, as defined, who provide janitorial services, as specified, to register with the commissioner annually and prohibits them from conducting business without a registration. Existing law requires an application for registration to be in a form prescribed by the commissioner and subscribed and sworn to by the employer, as specified.

This bill would require the divisions sexual violence and harassment prevention training requirement to apply to covered workers.

Existing law, effective January 1, 2020, requires new applications for registration and renewal of registrations to complete the sexual violence and harassment prevention training requirements.

This bill would require new applicants for registration and renewal to demonstrate completion of the training requirements by submitting a written attestation to the commissioner, as specified.

Existing law defines an employer as a person or entity that employs at least one employee and one or more covered workers and that enters into contracts, subcontracts, or franchise arrangements to provide janitorial services.

This bill would amend the definition of the term employer to mean a person or entity that employs at least one covered worker or otherwise engages by contract, subcontract, or franchise agreement for the provision of janitorial services by one or more covered workers. The bill would exclude from that definition an entity that is the recipient of those janitorial services.

Existing law requires an employer to keep specified records regarding each employee for 3 years.

This bill would require the records kept by the employer to also include the names, addresses, periods of work, and compensation paid to all other covered workers.

(3)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.

(4)This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 1421, 1429, 1429.5, and 1434 of the Labor Code proposed by AB 2079 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2079 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.