BILL NUMBER: AB 1897 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Roger Hernández
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to add Section 2810.3 to the Labor Code, relating to
privateemployment private employment .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1897, as amended, Roger Hernández. Labor contracting: client
liability.
Existing law regulates the terms and conditions of employment and
establishes specified obligations of employers to employees. Existing
law prohibits a person or entity from entering into a contract for
labor or services with a construction, farm labor, garment,
janitorial, security guard, or warehouse contractor, if the person or
entity knows or should know that the contract or agreement does not
include sufficient funds for the contractor to comply with laws or
regulations governing the labor or services to be provided.
This bill would require a client employer, as defined, to share
with a labor contractor all civil legal responsibility and
civil liability for the payment of wages, the failure to
report and pay all required employer contributions, worker
contributions, and personal income tax withholdings, and the failure
to obtain valid workers' compensation coverage. The bill would define
a client employer as an individual or entity that receives
obtains or is provided workers to perform labor
or services within the usual course of business of the individual or
entity from a labor contractor. The bill would define a labor
contractor as an individual or entity that supplies workers, by
contract or otherwise, to perform labor or services within the usual
course of business for a client employer. The bill would specify that
it does not prohibit client employers and labor contractors from
mutually contracting for otherwise lawful remedies
, including indemnification, for violations of its
provisions by the other party. The bill would require a client
employer or labor contractor to provide to a requesting
enforcement agency or department, and make available for
copying, information required to verify compliance with applicable
state laws. The bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner
and , the Division of Occupational Safety and
Health , and the Employment Development Department to
adopt necessary regulations and rules to administer and enforce the
bill's provisions. The bill would provide that waiver of its
provisions is contrary to public policy, void, and unenforceable.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 2810.3 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
2810.3. (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Client employer" means an individual or entity that
receives obtains or is provided workers to
perform labor or services within the usual course of business of the
individual or entity from a labor contractor.
(2) "Labor contractor" means an individual or entity that
contracts with a client employer to supply workers to perform labor
or services within the usual course of business or otherwise provides
workers to perform labor or services within the usual course of
business for the client employer.
(3) "Wages" has the same meaning provided by Section 200 and all
sums payable to an employee or the state because of
based upon any failure to pay wages, as
may be required provided by law.
(4) "Worker" does not include an employee who is exempt from the
payment of an overtime rate of compensation for executive,
administrative, and professional employees pursuant to wage orders by
the Industrial Welfare Commission described in Section 515.
(b) A client employer shall share with a labor contractor all
civil legal responsibility and civil liability for
the following:
(1) The payment of wages to workers provided by a labor
contractor.
(2) The failure to report and pay all required employer
contributions, worker contributions, and personal income tax
withholdings as required by the Unemployment Insurance Code.
(3) Failure to obtain secure valid
workers' compensation coverage as required by law
Section 3700 .
(c) A client employer shall not shift to the labor contractor any
legal duties or liabilities under the provisions of Division 5
(commencing with Section 6300) with respect to workers supplied by
the labor contractor.
(d) The provisions of subdivisions (b) and (c) are in addition to,
and shall be supplemental of, any other liability or requirement
established by statute or common law.
(e) This section does not prohibit a client employer from
establishing, exercising, or enforcing by contract any otherwise
lawful remedies against a labor contractor ,
including, but not limited to, for
indemnification for liability created by acts of a labor contractor.
(f) This section does not prohibit a labor contractor from
establishing, exercising, or enforcing by contract any otherwise
lawful remedies against a client employer ,
including, but not limited to, for
indemnification for liability created by acts of a client employer.
(g) Upon request by a state enforcement agency or
department, a client employer or a labor contractor shall provide to
the agency or department any information required to verify
compliance with applicable state laws. Upon request, these records
shall be made available promptly for inspection, and the state agency
or department shall be permitted to copy them.
(h) The Labor Commissioner and the Division of
Occupational Safety and Health may adopt regulations and
rules of practice and procedure necessary to administer and enforce
this section the provisions of subdivisions
(b) and (g) that are under his or her jurisdiction .
(i) The Division of Occupational Safety and Health may adopt
regulations and rules of practice and procedure necessary to
administer and enforce the provisions of subdivisions (c) and (g)
that are under its jurisdiction.
(j) The Employment Development Department may adopt regulations
and rules of practice and procedure necessary to administer and
enforce the provisions of subdivisions (b) and (g) that are under its
jurisdiction.
(i)
(k) A waiver of this section is contrary to public
policy, and is void and unenforceable.