BILL ANALYSIS �
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1443
Author: Skinner (D), et al.
Amended: 6/16/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/10/14
AYES: Jackson, Anderson, Corbett, Lara, Leno, Monning, Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Harassment: unpaid interns
SOURCE : Equal Rights Advocates
DIGEST : This bill expands discrimination and harassment
protections under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to
include an unpaid internship or another limited duration program
that provides unpaid experience for that person.
ANALYSIS : Existing federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act, prohibits discrimination and harassment of employees.
Existing law, the FEHA, prohibits, as a matter of public policy,
discrimination and harassment in employment on the basis of
race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry,
physical disability, mental disability, medical condition,
genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender
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identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or
military and veteran status. Those protections cover employment
applicants, employment training applicants, employees, and
apprentices.
Existing law prohibits, unless based upon a bona fide
occupational qualification, or, except where based upon
applicable security regulations, as specified, an employer to
refuse to hire or employ a person or to refuse to select a
person for a training program leading to employment or to bar or
to discharge a person from employment or from a training program
leading to employment, or to discriminate against a person in
compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of
employment because of a conflict between the person's religious
belief or observance and any employment requirement.
This bill:
1. Expands discrimination protections for apprentices in
termination or other terms or treatment of that apprentice in
an apprenticeship or other limited duration program.
2. Extends the discrimination protections to cover a person in
an unpaid internship, or any other program to provide unpaid
experience for that person.
3. Prohibits harassment by an employer of an unpaid intern or
volunteer.
4. Extends religious belief discrimination protection and
accommodation requirements to an individual in an
apprenticeship training program, an unpaid internship, and
any other program to provide unpaid experience for a person
in the workplace or industry.
Background
Various statutes, such as the FEHA and the Unruh Civil Rights
Act, prohibits 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. Over
time, these statutes have been amended to include other
characteristics such as medical conditions, marital status, and
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sexual orientation. Also over time, other statutes were amended
to reflect the state's public policy against discrimination in
all forms.
Existing federal law also provides anti-discrimination
protections for employees under Title VII of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act. However, neither federal nor state law provides
discrimination or harassment protections for individuals who
work for an employer but are not paid for their work.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/27/14)
Equal Rights Advocates (source)
American Association of University Women
American Civil Liberties Union of California
California Communities United Institute
California Employment Lawyers Association
California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO
California State Student Association
California Women's Law Center
Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center
Monarch Services - Servicios Monarca
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
National Women's Political Caucus of Silicon Valley
Pianko Law Group
Veterans Caucus of the California Democratic Party
Worksafe
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author writes:
Neither federal nor state law explicitly protects unpaid
interns from sexual harassment or discrimination. In
December, a federal district court in New York ruled that
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act - which protects
employees from workplace discrimination, including sexual
harassment - does not apply to unpaid interns because an
unpaid intern is not an "employee." The New York case
involved a Syracuse University student who claimed she was
sexually harassed, kissed and groped by a supervisor at
her media company internship and after she rebuffed her
supervisor's sexual advances, was also the victim of
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retaliation.
Likewise, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act
(FEHA) protects employees and independent contractors from
sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, but
does not specifically include unpaid interns in its
provisions. Furthermore, a recent state court decision
held that FEHA does not apply to "volunteers" in the
workplace.
AB 1443 would apply employment anti-discrimination
protections to unpaid interns and other volunteers in the
workplace.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. P�rez, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mansoor, Vacancy
AL:d 7/1/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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