BILL NUMBER: AB 2850 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 24, 2004
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 17, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2004
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ridley-Thomas
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chu, Dymally, Jerome Horton, and
Koretz)
(Coauthor: Senator Alarcon)
FEBRUARY 20, 2004
An act to add Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 1080) to Part 3
of Division 2 of the Labor Code, relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2850, Ridley-Thomas. Employment: displaced private security
officers.
Existing law provides for a system of labor standards enforcement
administered by the Labor Commissioner.
This bill would enact the Private Security Service Assurance Act,
which would require contractors and subcontractors, as defined, who
are awarded contracts or subcontracts to provide private security
services at a particular job site or sites, to retain, for a period
of 90 days, certain employees who were employed at that site by the
previous contractor or subcontractor. This bill would require that
employees retained under the bill's provisions for that 90-day period
be offered continued employment if their performance during that
90-day period is satisfactory. This bill would only apply to
contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2005. This bill would
authorize an employee who was not retained in accordance with the
bill's provisions, or his or her agent, to bring an enforcement
action in a court of competent jurisdiction, as specified. This bill
would authorize local government agencies to enact ordinances
imposing stricter standards or additional enforcement provisions.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 1080) is added to
Part 3 of Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:
CHAPTER 4.7. PRIVATE SECURITY SERVICE ASSURANCE ACT
1080. The following definitions apply throughout this chapter:
(a) "Awarding authority" means any person who awards or otherwise
enters into contracts for private security services performed within
the State of California, including any subcontracts for private
security services.
(b) "Contractor" means any person who employs individuals and who
enters into a service contract with the awarding authority.
(c) "Employee" means any licensed security employee of a
contractor or subcontractor and who works at least 15 hours per week
and whose primary place of employment is in the State of California
under a contract to provide private security services. "Employee"
does not include a person who is a managerial, supervisory, or
confidential employee, including those employees who would be so
defined under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
(d) "Licensed security officer" means a person registered as a
security guard pursuant to Chapter 11.5 (commencing with Section
7580) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code.
(e) "Person" means any individual, proprietorship, partnership,
joint venture, corporation, limited liability company, trust,
association, or other entity that may employ individuals or enter
into contracts.
(f) "Service contract" means any contract that has the principal
purpose of providing services through the use of service employees.
(g) "Subcontractor" means any person who is not an employee who
enters into a contract with a contractor to assist the contractor in
performing a service contract.
(h) "Successor service contract" means a service contract for the
performance of essentially the same services as were previously
performed pursuant to a different service contract at the same
facility that terminated within the previous 30 days. A service
contract entered into more than 30 days after the termination of a
predecessor service contract shall be considered a "successor service
contract" if its execution was delayed for the purpose of avoiding
application of this chapter.
1081. (a) (1) If an awarding authority notifies a contractor that
the service contract between the awarding authority and the
contractor has been terminated or will be terminated, the awarding
authority shall indicate in that notification whether a successor
service contract has been or will be awarded in its place and, if so,
shall identify the name and address of the successor contractor.
The terminated contractor shall, within three working days after
receiving that notification, provide to the successor contractor
identified by the awarding authority, the name, date of hire, and job
classification of each employee employed at the site or sites
covered by the terminated service contract at the time of the
contract termination.
(2) If the terminated contractor has not learned the identity of
the successor contractor, if any, the terminated contractor shall
provide that information to the awarding authority, which shall be
responsible for providing that information to the successor
contractor as soon as that contractor has been selected.
(3) The requirements of this section shall be equally applicable
to all subcontractors of a terminated contractor.
(b) (1) A successor contractor or successor subcontractor shall
retain, for a 90-day transition employment period, employees who have
been employed by the terminated contractor or its subcontractors, if
any, for the preceding four months or longer at the site or sites
covered by the successor service contract unless the successor
contractor or successor subcontractor has reasonable and
substantiated cause not to hire a particular employee based on that
employee's performance or conduct while working under the terminated
contract. This requirement shall be stated by awarding authorities
in all initial bid packages that are governed by this chapter.
(2) The successor contractor or successor subcontractor shall make
a written offer of employment to each employee, as required by this
section, in the employee's primary language or another language in
which the employee is literate. That offer shall state the time
within which the employee must accept that offer, but in no case may
that time be less than 10 days. Nothing in this section requires the
successor contractor or successor subcontractor to pay the same
wages or offer the same benefits as were provided by the prior
contractor or prior subcontractor.
(3) If at any time the successor contractor or successor
subcontractor determines that fewer employees are needed to perform
services under the successor service contract or successor
subcontract than were required by the terminated contractor under the
terminated contract or terminated subcontract, the successor
contractor or successor subcontractor shall retain employees by
seniority within the job classification.
(c) The successor contractor or successor subcontractor, upon
commencing service under the successor service contract, shall
provide a list of its employees and a list of employees of its
subcontractors providing services at the site or sites covered under
that contract to the awarding authority. These lists shall indicate
which of these employees were employed at the site or sites by the
terminated contractor or terminated subcontractor. The successor
contractor or successor subcontractor shall also provide a list of
any of the terminated contractor's employees who were not retained
either by the successor contractor or successor subcontractor,
stating the reason these employees were not retained.
(d) During the 90-day transition employment period, the successor
contractor or successor subcontractor shall maintain a preferential
hiring list of eligible covered employees not retained by the
successor contractor or successor subcontractor from which the
successor contractor or successor subcontractor shall hire additional
employees until such time as all of the terminated contractor's or
terminated subcontractor's employees have been offered employment
with the successor contractor or successor subcontractor.
(e) During the initial 90-day transition employment period, the
successor contractor or successor subcontractor shall not discharge
without cause an employee retained pursuant to this chapter. Cause
shall be based only on the performance or conduct of the particular
employee.
(f) At the end of the 90-day transition employment period, a
successor contractor or successor subcontractor shall provide a
written performance evaluation to each employee retained pursuant to
this chapter. If the employee's performance during that 90-day
period is satisfactory, the successor contractor or successor
subcontractor shall offer the employee continued employment. Any
employment after the 90-day transition employment period shall be
at-will employment under which the employee may be terminated without
cause.
1082. (a) An employee, who was not offered employment or who has
been discharged in violation of this chapter by a successor
contractor or successor subcontractor, or an agent of the employee
may bring an action against a successor contractor or successor
subcontractor in any superior court of the State of California having
jurisdiction over the successor contractor or successor
subcontractor. Upon finding a violation of this chapter, the court
shall award backpay, including the value of benefits, for each day
during which the violation has occurred and continues to occur. The
amount of backpay shall be calculated as the greater of either of the
following:
(1) The average regular rate of pay received by the employee
during the last three years of the employee's employment in the same
occupation classification multiplied by the average hours worked
during the last three years of the employee's employment.
(2) The final regular rate of pay received by the employee at the
time of termination of the predecessor contract multiplied by the
number of hours usually worked by the employee.
(b) The court may order a preliminary or permanent injunction to
stop the continued violation of this chapter.
(c) If the employee is the prevailing party in the legal action,
the court shall award the employee reasonable attorney's fees and
costs as part of the costs recoverable.
(d) In the absence of a claim by an employee that he or she was
terminated in violation of this chapter, an employee may not maintain
a cause of action under this chapter solely for the failure of an
employer to provide a written performance evaluation.
1083. (a) This chapter applies only to contracts entered into on
or after January 1, 2005.
(b) Except for the obligations specified in subdivisions (a) and
(b) of Section 1081, nothing in this chapter changes or increases the
relationship or duties of a property owner or an awarding authority,
or their agents, with respect to contractors, subcontractors, or
their employees.
(c) Nothing in this chapter limits the right of a property owner
or an awarding authority to terminate a service contract or to
replace a contractor with another contractor or with the property
owner's or awarding authority's own employees.
1084. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit a local government
agency from enacting ordinances relating to displaced private
security officers that impose greater standards than, or establish
additional enforcement provisions to, those prescribed by this
chapter.
1085. If any provision or provisions of this chapter or any
application thereof is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect
any other provisions or applications of this chapter that can be
given effect notwithstanding that invalidity.