BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 883 (Low) - Employment: public employee status.
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|Version: July 16, 2015 |Policy Vote: L. & I.R. 4 - 1, |
| | JUD. 5 - 2 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 883 would prohibit an employer or person who
operates an Internet Web site from advertising or announcing a
job that discriminates against an applicant who is a current or
former public employee.
Fiscal
Impact: Unknown costs, potentially in the range of $1 million to
$3 million (special funds) for the Department of Industrial
Relations (DIR) to process, review, and investigate complaints.
Background: Current law prohibits employment discrimination based on race,
AB 883 (Low) Page 1 of
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color, religion, sex or national origin. Specifically, various
California statutes, such as the Fair Employment and Housing Act
(FEHA) and the Unruh Civil Rights Act, prohibit discrimination
in employment, housing, public accommodation and services
provided by business establishments on the basis of specified
personal characteristics such as sex, race, color, national
origin, religion, and disability. These statutes have been
subsequently modified to include other characteristics, such as
medical conditions, marital status, and sexual orientation.
Proposed Law:
This bill would prohibit employment discrimination against
current or former public employees applying for public or
private employment. Specifically, this bill would prohibit an
employer, including a public employer, from doing any of the
following:
Publishing in print, on an Internet Web site, or in any
other medium, an advertisement or announcement for any job
that includes a provision stating or indicating directly or
indirectly that the applicant for employment must not be a
current or former public employee.
Communicating or disclosing directly or indirectly,
through any written form or verbally, that an applicant's
status as a current or former public employee disqualifies
an individual from eligibility for employment.
Making an adverse employment decision based on an
applicant's current or former employment as a public
employee.
Additionally, the bill would prohibit a person who operates an
Internet Web site for posting jobs in this state from publishing
on that Internet site an advertisement or announcement for any
job that includes a provision stating or indicating directly or
indirectly that the applicant for employment must not be a
current or former public employee.
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This bill would not prohibit an employer or a person who
operates an Internet Web site for posting jobs from doing the
following:
Publishing in print, on an Internet Web site, or in any
other medium, an advertisement or announcement for a job
that contains provisions setting forth qualifications for
the job, including:
o holding a current and valid professional or
occupational license, certificate, registration,
permit, or other credential;
o requiring a minimum level of education or
training or professional, occupational, or field
experience; or
o stating that only individuals who are current
employees of the employer will be considered for that
job;
Setting forth qualifications for a job, including:
o holding a current and valid professional or
occupational license, certificate, registration,
permit, or other credential;
o requiring a minimum level of education,
training, or professional, occupational, or field
experience; or
o stating that only individuals who are current
employees of the employer will be considered for that
job;
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Obtaining information regarding an individual's current
or former status as a public employee, including recent
relevant experience;
Having knowledge of a person's current or former status
as a public employee; or
Otherwise making employment decisions pertaining to that
individual.
Finally, the bill would clarify that an employer would not be
subject to a misdemeanor for violating this bill.
Related Legislation: AB 676 (Calderon) would prohibit an
employer, employment agency, or a person who operates an
internet web site from including in a job posting that an
applicant cannot be unemployed. The bill is up for hearing in
this Committee today.
Staff
Comments: DIR indicates that the number of the claims that may
come before it pursuant to this bill is difficult to determine.
Cases involving retaliation generally involve lengthy, resource
intensive investigations. Public employees in the State total
2.1 million. DIR cannot accurately project how many of those
individuals would make use of the bill's protections.
Additionally, DIR would now have enforcement authority for a new
group besides employers - 3rd party internet website providers.
This is a unique addition to DIR. DIR estimates it may need
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roughly $1 to $3 million to cover staff costs to handle the
potential influx of claims resulting from the bill. These
numbers estimate that even if only .001 percent of potential
claimants file claims - it could require over two dozen staff to
process the retaliation cases.
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