BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1087|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1087
Author: Monning (D), et al.
Amended: 6/30/14
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE : 4-1, 4/24/14
AYES: Hueso, Leno, Padilla, Mitchell
NOES: Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/19/14
AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
SENATE FLOOR : 26-10, 5/29/14
AYES: Beall, Block, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León,
DeSaulnier, Evans, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso,
Jackson, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Mitchell, Monning, Padilla,
Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Wolk
NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Fuller, Gaines, Huff, Knight,
Nielsen, Vidak, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Morrell, Wright, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 55-23, 8/14/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Farm labor contractors
SOURCE : California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
DIGEST : This bill strengthens the farm labor contractor (FLC)
standards by, among other things, increasing bonding
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requirements and raising licensure fees for FLC licensure
enforcement, as specified; and prohibits the FLC who engage in
sexual harassment from being issued a FLC's license or renewing
the license, as specified.
Assembly Amendments (1) change the amount of the surety bond
that the FLC deposits with the Labor Commissioner (LC); (2)
require that the FLC provides a written statement to the LC
attesting that all new nonsupervisorial employees, including
agricultural employees, have been trained at the time of hire,
and they have been trained at least once every two years in
identifying, preventing, and reporting sexual harassment in the
workplace, as specified; and (3) provides that a FLC licensee
will be considered to have not known about sexual harassment
committed by an employee or supervisor if the employee or
supervisor executes a form provided by the LC that the employee
or supervisor has not been found to have committed sexual
harassment, as specified. These provisions shall not apply
until the LC prepares the form and makes it available on its'
Internet Web site.
ANALYSIS : Existing law defines a "FLC" as any person who, for
a fee, employs or recruits workers to render personal services
in connection with the production or growing of any farm
products to and who, for a fee, provides in connection therewith
one or more of the following services: furnishes board,
lodging, or transportation for those workers; supervises, times,
checks, counts, weighs, or otherwise directs or measures their
work; or disburses wage payments to these persons.
Existing law prohibits any person from acting as a FLC until a
license to do so have been issued to him/her by the LC and such
license is in full effect and is in his/her possession. The
penalties for acting as a FLC without a license are:
1. For any initial citation, $100 for each farmworker employed
by the unlicensed person, plus $100 for each calendar day
that a violation occurs, for a total penalty not to exceed
$10,000;
2. For a second citation, $200 for each farmworker employed by
the unlicensed person, plus $200 for each calendar day that a
violation occurs, for a total penalty not to exceed $20,000;
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or
3. For a third or subsequent citation, $500 for each farmworker
employed by the unlicensed person, plus $500 for each
calendar day that a violation occurs, for a total penalty not
to exceed $50,000.
Existing law requires that the LC shall not issue or renew a FLC
license, unless:
1. The applicant has executed a written application in a form
prescribed by the LC, including, among other things, a
statement on the applicant's character and operations and the
names and addresses of financially interested partners;
2. The applicant has posted a surety bond of $25,000 for
payrolls up to $500,000 or a bond of $50,000 for payrolls up
to $2 million or a bond of $75,000 for payrolls over $2
million. This bond must be payable to the State of
California in the event of violations of California Labor
Law;
3. The applicant has paid the appropriate fees and passed an
examination that covers the agricultural labor law, including
safety regulations, collective bargaining laws, and wage and
hour requirements; and
4. The LC is, after investigation, satisfied with the character
of the applicant.
These penalties are deposited into the Farmworker Remediation
Fund, which is used to pay damages due to unpaid wages that
exceed the amount of the licensee's surety bond.
Existing law sets the licensure fee at $510 and the licensure
renewal fee at $500. $150 of the licensure and renewal fees
goes to the Farmworker Remediation Fund. Existing law also sets
the examination fee at $100.
Existing law requires that FLCs receive at least eight hours of
continuing education classes each year. The classes must be
approved by the LC, in consultation with other governmental
entities.
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Existing law permits the LC to deny, revoke, or refuse to renew
a FLC's license for a variety of different causes, including
violating health and safety laws, making misrepresentations in
the application, failing to follow licensure requirements, and
failure to pay appropriate wages. If a FLC's license is
revoked, the LC must wait at least three years before issuing
another license to the sanctioned FLC.
Existing law requires that, if a FLC leaves the state to avoid a
service of summons due to a violation of labor law, service must
instead be made on the surety.
Existing law requires FLCs to make available for inspection by
his/her employees and by the grower with whom he/she has
contracted a written statement in English and Spanish showing
the rate of compensation the FLC receives from the grower and
the rate of compensation the FLC is paying to his/her employees.
Existing law requires FLCs, upon request of the grower with whom
the FLC has a contract, to immediately furnish the grower with a
payroll list of all the contractor's employees working for the
grower.
Existing law provides that an aggrieved employee may bring a
civil action against a FLC for injunctive relief or damages,
and, upon prevailing, recover attorney's fees.
Existing law requires that any FLC who continues to provide
FLC's services after his/her license has been suspended or
revoked is guilty of an offense punishable by a fine of not less
than $1,000, but not more than $5,000, and/or by an imprisonment
of not less than six months, but not more than one year.
This bill:
1. Requires a FLC to provide a list of all employees who
provided FLC services on behalf of the FLC, as specified.
2. Requires a FLC to deposit with the LC a surety bond in an
amount based on the size of the person's annual payroll for
all employees, as follows:
A. For payrolls up to $500,000, a $25,000 bond.
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B. For payrolls of $500,000 to $2 million, a $50,000 bond.
C. For payrolls greater than $2 million, a $75,000 bond.
3. Requires the FLC to provide documentation to the LC of the
size of the contractor's payroll with either the Employment
Development Department, Franchise Tax Board, Internal Revenue
Service, or workers' compensation insurer documentation.
4. Increases the FLC licensure fee to $600, with the additional
$100 funding the Commissioner's FLC Enforcement Unit and the
FLC Verification Unit.
5. Requires an applicant for licensure as a FLC to provide a
written statement verifying that the person's supervisorial
employees have been trained in the prevention of sexual
harassment, as specified.
6. Increases the examination fee by $100 and adds the Department
of Fair Employment and Housing to the organizations that must
be consulted by the Commissioner when creating the exam.
7. Requires that the FLC fully document net and gross hours
worked and wages to a grower and provides paystubs that fully
comply with existing law to the contractor's employees.
Allows for the collection of expert witness fees in the event
of a successful action against an FLC.
8. Expands circumstances where service to the surety is
appropriate to include if the FLC remains in the state, but
has fled the jurisdiction where the labor law violation has
occurred.
9. Requires that the FLC fully document net and gross hours
worked and wages to a grower and provides paystubs that fully
comply with California Labor Law to the contractor's
employees.
10.Allows for the collection of expert witness fees in the event
of successfully pursuing action against a FLC.
11.Increases fees for any FLC who continues to provide FLCs
services after his/her license has been suspended or revoked
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to not less than $10,000, and also extend this penalty to
FLCs who were denied a license.
12.Makes additional changes regarding compliance with federal
law and appropriate posting of a FLC's license information.
13.Expands the conditions upon which a FLC's surety bond may be
payable to include damages due to sexual harassment
specifically, or harassment generally on the basis of race,
religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical
disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic
information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity,
gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and
veteran status.
14.Requires the addition of protection from sexual harassment in
the workplace as a topic for the FLC written examination.
15.Increases annual continuing education for FLCs to nine hours
and requires it include at least one hour of sexual
harassment prevention training.
16.Prohibits the LC from issuing a license to a FLC who, within
the three preceding years, committed sexual harassment or
employed a supervisor who the FLC knew, or should have known,
had been found to have committed sexual harassment of an
employee.
17.Allows the LC to revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew the
license of a FLC who, within the three preceding years,
committed sexual harassment or employed a supervisor who the
FLC knew, or should have known, had been found to have
committed sexual harassment of an employee.
18.Provides that a FLC licensee will be considered to have not
known about sexual harassment committed by an employee or
supervisor if the employee or supervisor executes a form
provided by the LC that the employee or supervisor has not
been found to have committed sexual harassment, as specified.
These provisions shall not apply until the LC prepares the
form and makes it available on its Internet Web site.
Prior Legislation
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SB 168 (Monning, Chapter 715, Statutes of 2013), makes a FLC
successor to any predecessor FLC that owed wages or penalties to
a former employee of the predecessor, whether the predecessor
was a licensee or not, liable for those wages and penalties, if
the successor FLC meets specified criteria.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
The Department of Industrial Relations indicates it would
incur a one-time cost of $58,000 for rulemaking (Special
Fund).
The Department of Fair Employment Housing indicates minimal
costs from the bill.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/14/14)
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (source)
AFSCME, AFL-CIO
California Applicant Attorneys Association
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Dolores Huerta Foundation
Food Empowerment Project
Justice for Working People
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Roots of Change
United Farm Workers
Wine Institute
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 55-23, 8/14/14
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hall,
Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal,
Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, John A.
Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
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Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder,
Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Nestande, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gorell, Vacancy
PQ:d 8/14/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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