AB 1677: Call centers: protections.

Existing law generally regulates the wages, hours, and working conditions of people employed in any occupation. Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the head of which is the Labor Commissioner. Existing law prohibits an employer from ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination, as defined, at a covered establishment, as defined, without giving a written notice of the order to certain parties and entities, including the employees, the Employment Development Department, and specified local officials.

This bill would establish the Protect Call Center Jobs Act of 2019 to require an employer of customer service employees in a call center, as specified, that intends to relocate from this state to a foreign country to notify the commissioner at least 120 days before the relocation. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to impose, in the commissioners discretion, one of two specified penalties, including a civil penalty of up to $10,000, upon an employer that fails to provide this notice. The bill would deposit the civil penalties into the Labor Enforcement and Compliance Fund to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for administration and enforcement of these provisions.

This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to compile and publish a list of employers that provide the notice and make the list available to specified state entities. An employer that appears on the list would be ineligible to be awarded or have renewed state grants or state-guaranteed loans for 5 years after the date that the list is published and would be ineligible to claim tax credits for five taxable years beginning on and after the date that the list is published. published, unless ineligibility is waived by the commissioner for specified reasons.

This bill would prescribe restrictions on contracting for call center customer service work performed by a private entity for a state agency, including that it be located in California, unless an exception applies. The bill would preclude withholding or denial of payments, compensation, or benefits under any other state law to workers based upon these provisions, as specified.