BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Senator Tony Mendoza, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2025 Hearing Date: June 29,
2016
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|Author: |Gonzalez |
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|Version: |June 9, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Alma Perez-Schwab |
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Subject: Barbering and cosmetology: labor law education
requirements
KEY ISSUES
Should the Legislature require that the Board of Barbering and
Cosmetology (BBC) offer all written materials provided to
licensees and applicants in English, Spanish and Vietnamese?
Should the BBC be required to provide practitioner and
establishment applicants with information about basic labor laws
when they apply for a license?
Should the BBC include basic labor law information in health and
safety curriculum taught in BBC-approved schools?
ANALYSIS
Existing law:
1) Provides for the licensure regulation of the practice of
barbering, cosmetology and electrolysis under the Barbering
and Cosmetology Act by the Board of Barbering and
Cosmetology (BBC). (Business and Professions Code (BPC)
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§7300 et. seq.)
2) Requires the BBC to establish a Health and Safety
Advisory Committee to provide advice and recommendations on
health and safety issues. (BPC §7314.3)
3) Details requirements for applicants for licensure as a
cosmetologist, barber, esthetician, manicurist and
electrologist (collectively beautification service
providers) to complete in order to take BBC required
examinations, including proof of the applicant's
qualifications verified by the oath of the applicant. (BPC
§7337)
4) Requires the BBC to maintain a program of random and
targeted inspections of establishments to ensure compliance
with applicable laws relating to the public health and
safety and the conduct and operation of establishments.
(BPC §7353)
5) Requires licensees to report to BBC upon renewal,
including: (BPC §7401)
a. License status, as defined.
b. Identification as an employee, independent
contractor, booth renter or salon owner.
c. For establishments, whether a booth renter is
operating in the establishment or whether an
independent contractor is operating in the
establishment.
1) Establishes the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act
which, among other things, mandates that every State agency
that serves a substantial number of non-English-speaking
people and provides materials in English explaining
services, shall also provide the same type of materials in
any non-English language spoken by a substantial number of
the public served by the agency. (Government Code Section
7290 et seq.)
2) Establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement
(DLSE) and grants the Chief of DLSE (Labor Commissioner)
and his or her employees' access to all places of labor for
purposes of labor law enforcement.
3) States the policy of this state to vigorously enforce
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minimum labor standards in order to ensure employees are
not required or permitted to work under substandard
unlawful conditions or for employers that have not secured
the payment of compensation, and to protect lawful
employers from those who attempt to gain a competitive
advantage at the expense of their workers by failing to
comply with minimum labor standards.
4) Requires the Labor Commissioner to adopt an enforcement
plan for the field enforcement unit which shall identify
priorities for investigations that ensure the available
resources will be concentrated in industries, occupations,
and areas in which employees are relatively low paid and
unskilled, and those in which there has been a history of
violations and those with high rates of noncompliance with
the law. (Labor Code §90.5)
5) Requires employers, at the time of hiring, to provide
each employee a written notice, in the language normally
used to communicate employment-related information to the
employee, containing information about the rate or rates of
pay. (Labor Code §2810.5)
This Bill would require the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology
(BBC) to provide practitioner and establishment applicants with
information about basic labor laws, as specified, in addition to
requiring that the information be provided in various specified
languages.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires BBC to offer and make available all written
materials provided to licensees and applicants in English,
Spanish, and Vietnamese.
2) Requires BBC, beginning January 1, 2018, to collect
demographic information for establishment license
applicants, through optional questions on the applications
for a license issued pursuant to Section 7396.1, including
but not limited to the applicant's spoken and written
language preference.
3) Expands the role of the BBC Health and Safety Advisory
Committee to require recommendations be provided on issues
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impacting board licensees, including how to ensure
licensees are aware of basic labor laws. States that basic
labor laws (BLLs) includes, but is not limited to all of
the following:
a. Key differences between the legal rights,
benefits, and obligations of an employee and an
independent contractor;
b. Wage and hour rights for hourly employees;
c. Antidiscrimination laws relating to the use of
a particular language in the workplace;
d. Anti-retaliation laws relating to a worker's
right to file complaints with the Department of
Industrial Relations and;
e. How to obtain more information about state and
federal labor law.
4) Requires applications for licensure as a beautification
service provider to include a signed acknowledgment that
the applicant understands his or her rights as a licensee
as outlined in informational materials on BLLs that is
provided by the BBC with the application.
5) Requires applications for licensure as an establishment
to include a signed acknowledgment that the applicant
understands that establishments are responsible for
compliance with any applicable labor laws of the state and
that the applicant understands the informational materials
on BLLs that is provided by BBC with the application.
6) Requires the BCC to add the specified basic labor laws
to the health and safety course developed or adopted to be
taught in BBC-approved schools.
COMMENTS
1. Concerns about Nail Salons and Experiences on Nail Salon
Employees:
According to the Senate Business, Professions & Economic
Development Committee:
"Nail salons have been the focus of studies and media reports
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in recent years stemming from health, safety and labor
concerns in these settings. In May 2015, the New York Times
(NYT) published two articles stemming from interviews with
more than 150 nail salon workers and owners that found that a
cast majority of workers are paid below minimum wage and are
sometimes not even paid. The articles found that workers
"endure all manner of humiliation, including having their tips
docked as punishment for minor transgressions, constant video
monitoring by owners, even physical abuse." The NYT also
found that employers are rarely punished for labor and other
violations and that in 2014, when the New York State Labor
Department conducted its first nail salon sweep, investigators
inspected 29 salons and found 116 wage violations. While only
about a quarter of the more than 100 workers said they were
paid an amount equivalent to that state's minimum hourly wage,
all but three said they had wages withheld in ways considered
illegal, such as never getting overtime and many were unaware
that working unpaid was against the law and their alarmingly
low wages are also illegal.
A February 2016 follow up report in the NYT articles found
that 40 percent of the salons inspected, as part of the Labor
Department's increased efforts to inspect following the
original May articles, underpaid employees, including one
worker at a Manhattan salon who was paid $30 a day for 10-hour
shifts, a manicurist in Queens who was paid only $200 for a
50-hour workweek, manicurists at seven salons who were forced
to work for no pay or had to pay salon owners a fee,
ostensibly to learn the trade and several owners admitted to
submitting fake payroll records in an effort to fool
investigators. The article highlighted that employers are
often unfamiliar with the intricacies of state labor laws."
2. Need for this bill?
On August 26, 2015, the California Assembly Select Committee
on Women in the Workplace, the Assembly Select Committee on
Girls and Women of Color, and the Assembly Committees on
Health, Business and Professions, and Labor held a joint
informational hearing titled "Labor Practices, Health, and
Safety in California Nail Salons." The purpose of the hearing
was to obtain information, address concerns, and discuss
policy recommendations regarding nail salon practices from
state agencies, advocates, and industry.
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According to the hearing briefing paper, California is home to
more than 8,500 nail salons and over 95,000 nail technicians,
accounting for a quarter of the country's nail salon workers.
In 2014, roughly 75% of these California nail salons were
owned or operated by Vietnamese Americans. The briefing paper
also cites a 2006 study by Cornell University, which found
that within California's nail technician work force,
Vietnamese workers increased from 10 percent in 1987 to 59
percent in 2002, and percentages continue to grow.
The author notes that the most widely agreed-upon problem
discussed at the hearing was lack of information about worker
rights. According to the author, this lack of information,
combined with cultural and language barriers, has led to some
nail salon owners using illegal practices to manage workers.
These practices include employee/contractor misclassification,
daily pay totaling less than minimum wage, unpaid overtime,
withholding tips or deducting pay as retaliation, denying meal
breaks, and language discrimination. The author states that it
is clear to many stakeholders that the use of such illegal
labor practices is not always malicious, so one commonsense
step is to ensure that owners are informed of existing laws.
This bill utilizes the current establishment application
process to increase awareness of basic labor laws relevant by
requiring the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology to provide
practitioner and establishment applicants with this
information at the time of application.
3. Proponent Arguments :
According to the author, California has many strong labor
standards, but part of enforcing those laws is making sure
workers know their rights, and that business owners are aware
of obligations to the workers in those businesses. The author
notes that "AB 2025 takes the opportunity to educate workers
and salon owners using existing license application processes
and training requirements. The Legislature also knows that
language barriers are a problem for establishments regulated
by the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, especially nail
salons, which is why AB 2025 includes provisions to improve
language access for both workers and businesses." Proponents
believe this measure strikes the right balance in its focus on
education and removal of language barriers, while requiring
owners to have a basic understanding of their obligations
under California labor law.
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4. Opponent Arguments :
None received.
5. Double Referral :
This bill has been double referred, and before coming to this
Committee for a hearing, it was heard and passed by the Senate
Business, Professions & Economic Development Committee.
6. Related Legislation :
AB 2125 (Chiu) of 2016, requires the California Department of
Public Health (DPH) to develop and publish guidelines for
local governments to implement local healthy nail salon
recognition programs with specified criteria, including the
use of less toxic nail polishes and polish removers and
improved ventilation. Requires DPH to develop awareness
campaigns and post specified information on its Internet Web
site. AB 2125 is pending before the Senate Business,
Professions & Economic Development Committee.
AB 2437(Ting) of 2016, requires on and after July 1, 2017, an
establishment licensed by BBC to post a model notice
pertaining to workplace rights and wage and hour laws,
developed by the Labor Commissioner and requires the BBC to
inspect for compliance of the posting requirement. AB 2437 is
pending before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 1125(Nguyen) of 2016, requires BBC, for an establishment
license, if the establishment will offer nail care services,
to include a signed acknowledgement that an applicant
understands their responsibility to comply with any applicable
state labor laws and comply with the informational materials
BBC selects or develops related to basic labor laws. SB 1125
is pending before the Assembly Business and Professions
Committee.
SUPPORT
California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative (Sponsor)
Asian Health Services
Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
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Black Women for Wellness
California Employment Lawyers Association
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Labor Federation
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
Communications Workers of America, District 9
Community Action Marin
Immigrant Resettlement & Cultural Center, Inc.
National Employment Law Project
Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance
Worksafe
1 Individual
OPPOSITION
None received
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