BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2437|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2437
Author: Ting (D)
Amended: 6/22/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 6-1, 6/20/16
AYES: Hill, Block, Hernandez, Jackson, Mendoza, Wieckowski
NOES: Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Galgiani
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 50-27, 5/23/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Barbering and cosmetology: establishments: posting
notice
SOURCE: Asian Americans Advancing Justice - California
Community Health for Asian Americans
DIGEST: This bill requires an establishment licensed by the
Board of Barbering and Cosmetology (BBC), on and after July 1,
2017, to post a model notice pertaining to workplace rights and
wage and hour laws, developed by the Chief of the Division of
Labor Standards Enforcement (Labor Commissioner), and requires
the BBC to inspect for compliance of the posting requirement.
ANALYSIS:
AB 2437
Page 2
Existing law:
1)Requires 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.
(Business and Professions Code (BPC) § 7353)
2)Provides that failure to display a license or health and
safety rules and regulations in a conspicuous place is grounds
for disciplinary action by BBC. (BPC § 7404)
3)Establishes the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act
(Dymally-Alatorre) which requires each state agency to conduct
a survey, related to its bilingual services, of each of its
statewide offices which render services to the public every
two years to determine specified information, and to report
results and any additional information requested to the
California Department of Human Resources. Dymally-Alatorre
also requires each agency that serves a substantial number of
non-English-speaking people who comprise 5% or more of the
people served to develop an implementation plan, as specified,
in every odd-numbered year, and to submit the implementation
plan to the Department for its review. (Government Code §
7290 et seq.)
4)Establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and
grants the Labor Commissioner and his or her employees free
access to all places of labor. States that any person, or
agent or officer thereof, who refuses admission to the Labor
Commissioner or deputy or agent or who, upon request,
willfully neglects or refuses to furnish them any statistics
or information, pertaining to their lawful duties is guilty of
a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.
(Labor Code (LAB) §§ 83 and 90)
5)Requires, at the time of hiring, an employer to provide each
employee a written notice, in the language the employer
normally uses to communicate, employment-related information
AB 2437
Page 3
to the employee containing information about the rate or rates
of pay. (LAB § 2810.5)
6)Requires employers in California to post information related
to wages, hours and working conditions in an area frequented
by employees where the information may be easily read during
the workday. Requires health and safety information posting
in certain workplaces.
This bill:
1)Requires the Labor Commissioner, on or before June 1, 2017, to
develop a model notice pertaining to workplace rights and wage
and hour laws for employees of BBC licensed establishments.
Requires the model posting notice to be developed using plain
language and to be accessible on the Labor Commissioner's Web
site. Requires the model posting notice to be translated into
Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean and include information, on:
a) Misclassification of an employee as an independent
contractor;
b) Wage and hour laws, including, but not limited to,
minimum wage, overtime compensation, meal periods, and rest
periods;
c) Tip or gratuity distribution;
d) How to report violations of the law;
e) Business expense reimbursement; and
f) Protection from retaliation.
AB 2437
Page 4
2)Requires a BBC licensed establishment, on and after July 1,
2017, to post the model notice developed by the Labor
Commissioner in a conspicuous location in clear view of
employees and where similar notices are customarily posted.
3)Requires BBC to inspect for compliance with this posting
requirement when it conducts inspections. Clarifies that a
violation of the notice requirement is punishable by an
administrative fine rather than a misdemeanor.
Background
Concerns about nail salons and experiences of nail salon
employees. Nail salons have been the focus of studies and media
reports 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, had 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
AB 2437
Page 5
workweek, had 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.
On August 26, 2015, the 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.
The author notes that nail salon owners have expressed that they
are oftentimes unaware of labor laws and that perhaps training
is in order. This bill sets forth requirements for all BBC
establishments, including nail salons.
Current posting requirements. Employers in the state of
California are required to post information related to wages,
hours and working conditions, health and safety in an area
frequented by employees where the information may be easily read
during the workday as well as health and safety information.
Personal services industry employers must post wage, hour and
working conditions information contained in Wage Order #2
developed by the Industrial Welfare Commission. All employers
must post information outlining California's minimum wage and
minimum wage pursuant to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act,
must post information about basic requirements and procedures
for compliance with the state's job safety and health laws and
regulations and must post information about prohibitions on
discrimination and harassment in employment.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
AB 2437
Page 6
SUPPORT: (Verified8/3/16)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - California (co-source)
Community Health for Asian Americans (co-source)
California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/3/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Supporters believe that this bill will
help workers licensed by BBC to know about and advocate for
their rights in the workplace and help ensure that establishment
owners comply with California labor law.
Supporters note that due to language and cultural barriers among
nail salon owners and employees, there remains persistent
confusion about workplace law and state that this bill will
provide critical information that will allow confused employers
to assess and correct any employment practices that violate
labor law.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 50-27, 5/23/16
AYES: Alejo, Atkins, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez, Low, McCarty,
Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber,
Williams, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang,
Chávez, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
Jones, Kim, Lackey, Linder, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
AB 2437
Page 7
NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Eggman, Patterson
Prepared by:Sarah Mason / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
8/3/16 19:36:06
**** END ****