BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1897
Page A
Date of Hearing: April 23, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Roger Hernández, Chair
AB 1897 (Roger Hernández) - As Amended: April 10, 2014
SUBJECT : Labor contracting: client liability.
SUMMARY : Establishes specified liability for client employers
that obtain workers from third-party labor contractors.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "client employer" to mean an individual or entity that
obtains or is provided workers to perform labor or services
within the usual course of business of the individual or
entity from a labor contractor.
2)Defines "labor contractor" to mean an individual or entity
that contracts with a client employer to supply workers to
perform labor or services within the usual course of business
or otherwise provides workers to perform labor or services
within the usual course of business for the client employer.
3)Specifies that "worker" does not include an employee who is
exempt from the payment of overtime wages under existing
exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional
employees.
4)Provides that a client employer shall share with a labor
contractor all civil legal responsibility and civil liability
for the following:
a) The payment of wages to workers provided by a labor
contractor.
b) The failure to report and pay all required employer
contributions, worker contributions, and personal income
tax withholdings.
c) Failure to secure valid workers' compensation coverage.
5)Prohibits a client employer from shifting to a labor
contractor any legal duties or responsibilities related to
workplace health and safety.
AB 1897
Page B
6)Clarifies that these provisions are in addition to, and shall
be supplemental of, any other liability or requirement
established by statute or common law.
7)Specifies that this bill does not prohibit a client employer
from establishing, exercising, or enforcing by contract any
otherwise lawful remedies against a labor contractor for
indemnification for liability created by acts of a labor
contractor, and vice versa.
8)Provides that, upon request by a state enforcement agency or
department, a client employer or a labor contractor shall
provide to the agency or department any information required
to verify compliance with applicable state laws. Upon request,
these records shall be made available promptly for inspection,
and the state agency or department shall be permitted to copy
them.
9)Authorizes the Labor Commissioner, the Division of
Occupational Safety and Health, and the Employment Development
Department to adopt regulations and rules of practice and
procedure necessary to administer and enforce the provisions
of this bill.
10)Makes a waiver of the provisions of this bill contrary to
public policy, and void and unenforceable.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : In recent years, some workers and worker advocates
have noticed an increase in the number of employers who are
moving away from a traditional employment model towards a
business model that utilizes "subcontracted" or "contingent"
workers.
In a traditional employment relationship, an employer directly
hires its own workers, pays their wages and provides their
benefits, and controls their day-to-day work. However, a
variety of other employment models have developed over the
years. Numerous terms are used to describe these alternative
types of work arrangements: contingent work, nonstandard work,
contractual work, seasonal work, freelance work, "just-in-time"
or "temp employment," or "permatemps."
Many advocates have expressed concern that this business model
AB 1897
Page C
results in challenges for workers and enforcement agencies in
ensuring that employees' rights are fully. This issue was the
topic of informational hearings held by the Assembly Committee
on Labor and Employment in February 2012 and March 2014.
An eloquent description of the issue and associated problems is
as follows:
"We walk into a Marriott and assume that the people who
greet us at the front desk or who clean our rooms each day
are employees of the venerable brand (as their uniforms
imply). We greet the technicians sent to our home to fix
our cable, not even questioning whether they work for the
media company to whom we pay our bills. In short, we
assume that the companies who invest millions of dollars to
convince us of the benefits of buying products under their
retail nameplate or to purchase the unique services they
offer also undertake the operations needed to produce them
- including acting as the employer of all the
inter-connected people who make their businesses possible.
Those assumptions are increasingly wrong?
?In essence, private strategies and public policies allow
major companies to simultaneously profit from the core
activities that create value in the eyes of customers and
the capital markets and shed the actual production of goods
and services. In so doing, they have their cake and eat it
too."<1>
Subcontracting: The New Normal? Or Deja Vu All Over Again?
Subcontracting of an employer's workforce is certainly not a new
phenomenon, particularly in California. For example, since at
least the 19th century, the garment manufacturing industry has
relied heavily upon nominally separate entities to manufacture,
sew and press garments. In addition, in the agriculture
industry, growers have long relied upon "farm labor contractors"
to serve as intermediaries to hire agricultural workers to
harvest and perform other work on farms.
---------------------------
<1> Weil, David. "The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So
Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It." Harvard
University Press (February 2014), at pp. 3-4.
AB 1897
Page D
"Subcontracting out work is an old phenomenon. Until about
70 years ago, the use of labor intermediaries was commonly
known as "the sweating system" and its victims worked in
"sweating shops." The quintessential subcontracted worker
was the garment worker toiling in a tenement in New York
City during the last two decades of the 19th century. But
the problem was much more widespread. The sweating system
existed in many other locations, including Chicago,
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Boston. The
"sweated trades" included production of a wide variety of
garments as well as cigars, artificial flowers, dolls,
brushes and purses.
Worker advocates put much thought and effort into
addressing problems in the
"sweated trades," which included low wages, long hours,
piece-rate abuses, dangerous conditions and child labor. A
century later, we seem to be fighting similar battles.
Labor subcontracting, temp agencies, employee leasing,
misclassifying employees as "independent contractors,"
outsourcing and other methods of "sweating a profit" out of
workers through labor intermediaries are prevalent."<2>
It is interesting to note that in California, concerns with the
employment model utilized in the garment and agriculture
industries has led to industry-specific legislation designed to
protect workers. Both garment manufacturers and farm labor
contractors are required to be licensed and regulated by the
Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (generally known as the
Labor Commissioner). Existing law contains numerous additional
requirements to be followed by contractors in both of these
industries, generally to ensure that current labor and
employment laws are followed to protect workers.
However, some advocates have expressed concern that the use of
subcontracted work appears to be a growing trend across all
industries. In June 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor reported
that the nation had more temporary workers than ever before: 2.7
million. Overall, almost one-fifth of the total job growth
---------------------------
<2> Goldstein, Bruce and Catherine K. Ruckelhaus. "Lessons For
Reforming 21st Century Labor Subcontracting: How 19th Century
Reformers Attacked 'The Sweating System,'" in Proceedings of the
53rd Annual Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research
Association (New Orleans, LA. Jan 2001).
AB 1897
Page E
since the recession ended in mid-2009 has been in the temporary
sector, federal data shows<3>. The proportion of temporary
workers in the labor force reached its peak in early 2000 before
the 2001 slump and then the Great Recession. "But as the
economy continues its slow, uneven recovery, temporary work is
roaring back 10 times faster than private-sector employment as a
whole.<4>"
Subcontracting - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
There is little question that temporary employment is attractive
to some workers, for a variety of reasons. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics has stated:
"Employment as a temporary worker is attractive to some.
The opportunity to earn income while enjoying flexible
schedules and an ability to take extended leaves of absence
is well-suited to students, persons juggling job and family
responsibilities, those exploring various careers, and
those seeking permanent positions in a chosen career.
Firms try to accommodate workers' preferences for
particular days or hours of work and for frequency or
duration of assignments. Temporary work assignments provide
an opportunity to experience a variety of work settings and
employers, to sharpen skills through practice, and to learn
new skills. Nevertheless, many workers in temporary
assignments would prefer the stability and greater benefits
associated with full-time work<5>."
Similarly, the American Staffing Association (ASA) states that
the staffing industry "offers flexibility to both employees and
companies. People can choose when, where, and how they want to
work. Companies can get the skills they need to keep fully
---------------------------
<3> Grabell, Michael. "The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power
Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed." ProPublica (June 27,
2013).
http://www.propublica.org/article/the-expendables-how-the-temps-w
ho-power-corporate-giants-are-getting-crushe
<4> Id.
<5> United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics. "Career Guide to Industries, 2010-11 Edition."
AB 1897
Page F
staffed during busy times<6>."
Similarly, subcontracting can allow an employer to subcontract a
portion of its work to concentrate on its "core" or primary
business, leaving ancillary or related services to someone else.
However, worker advocates and others have long alleged that
motivation for an employer to use "subcontracted" or "temporary"
employees is sometimes driven more by a desire to flout labor
and employment laws than by legitimate business necessity.
Some have described the problem as follows:
"Well before the current economic downturn, the sweatshop
ethic expanded broadly throughout the economy, with a wide
range of business owners and managers adopting a
'gloves-off' approach to their own employees. In the best
cases they have simply turned a blind eye to the
shenanigans of subcontractors, in effect outsourcing their
moral and legal responsibility. In the worst cases
employers have directly engaged in inhumane acts, cheating
their staff out of hard-earned pay and blithely ignoring
codes meant to ensure their health and safety?
?Employers can take the gloves off without violating labor
laws-especially by shifting responsibility for worker
protections to subcontractors. They can hire labor
suppliers to perform work on-site (as with subcontracted
janitorial workers) or off-site (as with industrial laundry
workers cleaning linens for hotels and hospitals). Of
course, greater use of subcontracting in and of itself does
not necessarily imply an attempt to evade workplace laws.
But it can facilitate such evasions by creating greater
legal distance between the ultimate employer and the
worker. When a fly-by-night cleaning subcontractor pays
less than the minimum wage, the business manager whose
building is getting cleaned can deny responsibility. And
in the event regulators catch up with the subcontractor, he
-------------------------
<6> http://www.americanstaffing.net/jobseekers/facts.cfm
AB 1897
Page G
simply disappears, leaving the workers in the lurch<7>."
Profile of Subcontracted Work in California
In March 2014, the National Employment Law Project (NELP)
released a paper<8> highlighting key facts about subcontracted
work in California. The paper noted the following statistics:
Subcontracted and temporary jobs are on the rise:
o According to the Government Accountability
Office, an estimated 31 percent of the workforce could
be considered "contingent workers" in 2005.
o According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
there are 2.68 million temporary workers in the United
States-approximately the same number of workers in the
airline, real estate, and mining industries combined.
o Almost one-fifth of total job growth since the
end of the recession in 2009 is in the temporary
sector; according to the American Staffing
Association, one in every ten workers finds a job at a
staffing agency.
o More than one in twenty blue-collar workers
nationwide are temporary workers.
Workers and communities suffer in jobs provided by labor
suppliers:
o Temporary workers earn lower wages, fewer
benefits, and have less job security. A UC Berkeley
study found that median hourly wages were $13.72 for
temps, versus $19.13 for non-temporary workers in
California. Studies have found that outsourced call
center workers earn 8 percent less than in-house
counterparts; contract company janitors earn 4 to 7
percent less, and contract security guards earn 8 to
24 percent less than directly employed counterparts.
o Workers in jobs provided by labor suppliers
face greater risks of workplace illness, injury, and
death. California recorded the highest number of fatal
occupational injuries among contractors in the United
-----------------------
<7> Martelle, Scott. "Confronting the Gloves-Off Economy:
America's Broken Labor Standards and How To Fix Them." (July
2009).
<8> Cho, Eunice. "Labor Contracting in California: Key Facts."
National Employment Law Project (March 2014).
http://nelp.3cdn.net/9ba033b722b6df0dd6_w8m6iii52.pdf
AB 1897
Page H
States. California's temporary workers face a 50
percent higher risk for injury on the job and are
twice as likely as regular workers to be stricken by
heat exhaustion. These workers are more likely to be
placed in dangerous jobs, without proper training or
safety equipment.
Low-income, immigrant, and communities of color workers
are more likely to work for labor suppliers:
o Temporary workers are twice as likely to be on
government assistance. 18.8 percent of temporary
workers in California lived in poverty, as compared to
8.9 percent of non-temp workers.
o Temporary workers are more likely to be
non-white or Hispanic and without a high school
diploma or GED. 65 percent of temporary workers are
non-white or Hispanic, compared to 55.6 percent of
non-temp workers. 21 percent of temporary workers did
not have a high school diploma or GED, as compared to
15.7 percent of non-temp workers.
Do Policy Solutions that Focus on Labor Contractors Get at the
Heart of the Problem?
For a number of years, policy recommendations have tended to
focus on regulating the subcontracted employers or labor
contractors themselves. Examples of this in California law
include statutes regulating farm labor contractors and garment
manufacturers.
But some commentators have questioned whether such approaches
miss the mark, instead suggesting that policies should instead
place the emphasis on the user employers of subcontracted work:
"The history of the sweating system offers us useful
lessons for today. Any strategy to ameliorate the harms of
subcontracting must focus on the entities that have the
economic power to change the system: the companies that
retain the subcontractors. Efforts to regulate the
subcontractors themselves will rarely be sufficient because
the subcontractors are too numerous, the economic pressures
on contractors to compete by undermining labor standards
are too intense, and new subcontractors will always replace
ones that are put out of business.
Laws, regulations, law enforcement efforts, consumer
AB 1897
Page I
boycotts, and collective
bargaining agreements should attempt to place
responsibility for wages and working conditions on the
companies that subcontract out. Emphasizing the
responsibility of the company that subcontracts, rather
than that of the subcontractor, will maximize the impact of
the limited resources available to prevent substandard
employment practices.
This approach also benefits those employers that prefer to
treat their workers well. Companies deserve protection
against unfair competition by unscrupulous employers that
seek to undermine labor standards and lower labor costs by
resorting to labor contractors."<9>
Solutions to the "Fissured Workplace"
David Weil is a professor at Boston University as well as a
researcher at Harvard University. In September 2013, President
Obama nominated Weil to head the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage
and Hour Division.
In February of this year, Weil authored a book<10> which
examines the economic phenomenon which is the subject of this
bill. Weil uses the term "the fissured workplace" to describe
the current situation as follows:
"The modern workplace has been profoundly transformed.
Employment is no longer the clear relationship between a
well-defined employer and a worker. The basic terms of
employment - hiring, evaluation, pay, supervision,
training, coordination - are now the result of multiple
organizations. Responsibility for conditions has become
blurred. Like a rock with a fracture that deepens and
spreads with time, the workplace over the past three
decades has fissured. And fissuring has serious
consequences for the bedrock that people depend upon from
-------------------------
<9> Goldstein, Bruce and Catherine K. Ruckelhaus. "Lessons For
Reforming 21st Century Labor Subcontracting: How 19th Century
Reformers Attacked 'The Sweating System,'" in Proceedings of the
53rd Annual Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research
Association (New Orleans, LA. Jan 2001).
<10> Weil, David. "The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So
Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It." Harvard
University Press (February 2014).
AB 1897
Page J
employment: the share of the economic pie available to
workers and their families; their exposure to health and
safety and other risks each day at work; and the likelihood
that their workplaces comply with the standards set out by
law<11>."
Later in the book, in a chapter entitled, "Rethinking
Responsibility," Weil discusses potential solutions to "the
fissured workplace" and states the following:
"Successful legislation to address the problems arising
from fissured employment would?impact the balancing
decision faced by lead businesses by requiring them to
include social as well as private benefits and costs in
making decisions on employment. In some cases, by changing
laws so that the lead business cannot have it both ways,
those companies may choose to keep employment inside the
organization. But that is not the only outcome legislation
should seek. Lead businesses might still choose to move
employment outward through contracting, franchising,
third-party management, or other organizational forms.
However, they might do so with greater scrutiny in the
selection, monitoring, and coordination of those
subordinate organizations given their heightened
responsibility.
Framed in this broader way, public policies amending
existing workplace policies, or breaking new ground
entirely, can be evaluated in terms of their impact on the
decisions made by lead organizations. There are three
major objectives for legislative initiatives in this
regard. First, legislation can attempt to stop lead
organizations from shedding employment simply as a means to
avoid workplace obligations created by law. Second,
policies placing greater legal responsibility on lead
businesses can cause those firms to include the social
consequences of the fissured workplace when deciding to
shed employment to others. Third, public policies can
affect how wages and human resource policies are set in
fissured workplace forms<12>."
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT :
---------------------------
<11> Id. at 7.
<12> Id. at 203-204.
AB 1897
Page K
This bill is co-sponsored by the California Labor Federation,
AFL-CIO, the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council, and
the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
The California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO states the following in
support of this bill:
"Across our economy, we are seeing a resurgence in the use
of labor contractors and the reemergence of what in the
late 1800's was called "the sweating system." Like the
sweatshops of old, companies are once again using third
party labor suppliers to squeeze workers to work harder for
less pay while insulating the company in charge from
responsibility for what is done to those workers. This
structure does more than just drive down wages; it makes
accountability almost impossible.
The workers at the bottom of this chain work directly for
the contractor and are supplied to companies on as "as
needed" basis with no strings attached. In some cases, they
are treated as day laborers and gather every morning at the
staffing agency to see whether they will be assigned work.
Others work full-time for years but are considered
temporary.
Subcontracted workers wear hotel uniforms and clean rooms,
but are hired by a temporary agency. When they get cheated
out of wages, the hotel denies any responsibility. Other
workers pack lettuce and onions for years in food
processing plants, but are hired through farm labor
contractors. When they speak out about working conditions,
the company threatens to cut its ties with the contractor
so workers will lose their jobs. When workers look for
help, even state enforcement agencies are often uncertain
about who the actual employer is and who can be held
accountable.
Today's subcontracted workforce bears little resemblance to
the "Kelly Girls" who were once the poster child of the
temporary industry. Instead, third party labor suppliers
are being used to provide low cost "perma-temps" to do
strenuous and often dangerous work for years on end. One in
20 blue collar jobs in America are temporary, including one
in five manual laborers and one in six auto workers.
AB 1897
Page L
Temporary workers by definition have no guarantee of
additional work and so a worker can easily be punished for
speaking out. Employers also use the threat of terminating
the contract with the staffing agency or contractor if the
workers exercise protected labor rights. These types of
retaliation are hard to prove and hard to remedy?.
?When two recycling workers lost fingers in similar machine
accidents in 2009, Soex West Textile Recycling told CalOSHA
it could not be held responsible as it had no employees.
The workers injured on their property by their equipment
were employed by another entity, who also denied any role
in supervision or control. This example underscores the
challenge for state agencies in preventing workplace
accidents in these subcontracted settings?
?The reliance on labor contractors undermines the
enforcement of labor laws and erodes working conditions in
key industries. Warehousing, food production, trucking,
waste and recycling are all industries where unions have
had significant density and maintained good middle-class
jobs for decades. These are the industries where the use of
contract labor is on the rise and is resulting in lower
wages and more labor violations.
Not only does the use of a contractor make it harder to
hold the company accountable for the treatment of workers,
but it also interferes with the right to organize. Contract
laborers work for the labor contractor, so at one site,
there can be multiple employers. That results in split
bargaining units, multiple elections, and a constantly
divided workforce.
Current law is simply insufficient to protect workers'
rights in the shadows of the subcontracted economy. Under
existing law, a company can only be held responsible if a
worker can prove joint employer status. This process is
costly, slow, and difficult to navigate for most workers.
It requires litigation, rather than providing a simple and
straightforward rule. It is also easily manipulated by
companies that have the labor contractor provide
supervision on site to shield them from liability.
[This bill] offers a far better approach. It holds
companies accountable for serious violations of workers'
AB 1897
Page M
rights committed by their own labor suppliers to workers on
their premises. This simple rule will incentivize the use
of responsible contractors, rather than a race to the
bottom. It will protect vulnerable temporary workers, as
well as businesses that follow the law and don't profit
from cheating workers. It offers workers a clear path to
accountability for workplace violations and it offers
employers a clear path to compliance."
Similarly, the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
(CRLAF) argues that this bill is an important contribution to
efforts made in recent years to protect workers from wage theft,
substandard working conditions and other abuses committed by
labor contractors in the underground economy:
"Despite the passage of recent legislation such as the
Financially Responsible Contractors Act (Labor Code Section
2810 (2003)) and the expansion of the definition of
employer by the California Supreme Court in Martinez v.
Combs (2010), efforts to hold the users of labor
contractors jointly liable for their labor law violations
remains a fact intensive, expensive, case by case exercise
that takes years to successfully litigate against a single
employer."
CRLAF also provides data that illustrates the difficulty in
efforts that merely focus on regulating the "labor contractor,"
rather than focusing on the user or client employer. Despite
the fact that farm labor contractors have been regulated for
over sixty years, a survey conducted by CRLAF early this year
highlights cases involving thousands of farm workers,
potentially several millions of dollars in unpaid wages and
penalties, and a host of other alleged violations including
health and safety abuses, sexual harassment, retaliation, and
physical threats and actual beatings of workers. As CRLAF
concludes, "Taken together, these cases are a reliable 'snap
shot' of labor law compliance by some farm labor contractors in
California in 2014 and are powerful evidence that more than six
decades of state regulation has failed to curb widespread abuses
in agriculture's underground economy."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION :
A coalition of employer groups, including the California Chamber
of Commerce, opposes this bill and argues that it forces one
AB 1897
Page N
company to essentially insure the wage and hour obligations,
workers' compensation coverage, and occupational health and
safety duties of a separate employer's employees.
Specifically, opponents contend that this bill holds an innocent
third-party individual or business liable for the employment
obligations of another employer:
"[This bill] imposes liability upon a third party
individual or business for the wage and hour obligations of
another employer even though there is absolutely no
evidence or proof that the third party exerted any control
over the working conditions of the contractor's employees.
Currently, a third party may be liable for the labor
obligations of another employer under two legal theories:
(1) joint employer liability or (2) independent contractor
misclassification. The key factor for both of these
analyses is that the third party exerted such control over
the working conditions of the contractor's employees that
essentially the third party acted as the real employer.
See Bradley v. California Dept. of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, 158 Cal.App.4th 1612 (2008)(state agency
exerted sufficient control over individual to be considered
employer for purposes of FEHA); Martinez v. Combs
49 Cal.4th 35 (2010)(stating that for joint employer
liability, employee must prove the third party exerted
control over the working conditions of the employee); (S.
G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial
Relations, 48 Cal.3d 341 (1989) ("the principal test of an
employment relationship is whether the person to whom
service is rendered has the right to control the manner and
means of accomplishing the result desired"); Cristler v.
Express Messenger Systems, Inc., 171 Cal.App.4th 72 (2009)
(same); Lara v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Bd., 182
Cal.App.4th 393 (2010) (same). The burden to establish
either theory is on the employee who is seeking to hold the
third-party liable for any alleged employment violations.
[This bill] completely ignores this long-standing common
law analysis and imposes liability despite the lack of any
control exerted by the third-party. Even though the
third-party did not control the wages owed, did not control
the hours the employee worked, and did not control the work
AB 1897
Page O
environment of the employee, the third party will be held
liable for all such obligations."
Opponents also argue that this bill jeopardizes employee
confidentiality:
"[This bill] mandates that a client employer or a labor
contractor shall comply with any agency or department's
request to inspect records in order to verify compliance
with applicable laws. This means that a third party
entity, who is not the employee's actual employer, will
have an obligation to produce personnel records of an
employee, that includes sensitive information such as
hourly rate, social security numbers, birth date, and
potential medical information regarding any alleged
injuries. This is an impossible mandate with which to
comply, as the third party "client employer," does not
maintain personnel records of individuals that are not its
employees and cannot force the actual employer to comply
with an agency's request. Accordingly, this provision
creates a liability trap for third party client employers."
In addition, opponents contend that this bill will create
significant litigation:
"As a part of the Labor Code, any violation of [this bill]
will trigger a potential representative action under the
Labor Code Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), Labor Code
Section 2699 et seq., thereby expanding the threat of
onerous litigation against any third party that utilizes
contractors as a part of its usual course of business. To
the extent a third party is held liable under PAGA for the
employment obligations of another, there will
unquestionably be a second lawsuit for indemnity between
the third party and actual employer.
The judicial branch has suffered severe budget cuts over
the last three years, with multiple courthouses shut down
and drastic staff reductions, thereby significantly
delaying the time it takes for civil disputes to be
resolved. Forcing an innocent third party to pursue
litigation that may take years in order to recover monies
paid out for the violations of another, is simply unfair."
Finally, opponents contend that there are already adequate
AB 1897
Page P
protections under existing law for dealing with documented
problems that involve contracting:
"For those industries in which there has been documented
evidence of unlawful contracting practices, the legislature
has already enacted laws to address and prevent such
abuses. Specifically, for several industries, including
farm labor, garment, construction, security guards,
janitorial, and most recently warehouse workers, Labor Code
Section 2810 holds the entity that contracts for workers in
those industries liable if the contract for such labor does
not include the following: (1) a description of the total
hours to be worked, the total wages to be paid, and the
dates of payment; (2) the worker's compensation policy and
insurance carrier information; (3) the employer tax
identification number; (4) the address of where the work
will be performed; and, (5) the name, address, and
telephone number of the person or entity through whom the
labor or services are to be provided. [This bill] expands
liability to all industries and all individuals who
contract for labor or services, despite the lack of any
evidence that there is a need beyond the industries already
regulated."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Alameda County Labor Council
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Asian American Alliance for Justice--Asian Law Caucus
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Los Angeles
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Conference of Machinists
California Conference of the Amalgamated Transit Union
California Employment Lawyers Association
California Faculty Association
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO (co-sponsor)
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
California School Employees Association
California State Association of Electrical Workers
California State Council of Service Employees International
AB 1897
Page Q
Union
California State Pipe Trades Council
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council (co-sponsor)
Centro Legal de la Raza
Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers Local 150
Chinese Progressive Association
CLEAN Carwash Campaign
Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County
Consumer Attorneys of California
Employee Rights Center
Engineers & Scientists, IFPTE Local 20
Equal Rights Advocates
Garment Workers Center
General Teamsters Local 137
General Teamsters Local 386
General Teamsters Local 431
International Longshore and Warehouse Union, West Coast Division
Jockeys Guild
Katherine & George Alexander Community Law Center
Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA)
Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund
Merced-Mariposa Central Labor Council
Monterey Bay Central Labor Council
Napa Solano Central Labor Council
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
National Employment Law Project
National Lawyers' Guild Labor & Employment Committee
North Bay Labor Council
Northern California Carpenters Regional Council
Orange County Labor Federation
Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21
San Mateo Central Labor Council
Sanitary Truck Drivers and Helpers Local 350
SEIU 1000
South Bay Labor Council
State Building and Construction Trades Council
Teamsters Joint Council # 42
Teamsters Joint Council # 7
Teamsters Joint Council 7
Teamsters Local 315
Teamsters Local 396
Teamsters Local 517
Teamsters Local 542
AB 1897
Page R
Teamsters Local 63
Teamsters Local 856
Teamsters Local 890
Teamsters Local 986
UNITE HERE
United Auto Workers, Local 5810
United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council
(co-sponsor)
Utility Workers Union of America, Local 132
Warehouse Workers United
Western States Council of Sheet Metal Workers
Opposition
Agricultural Council of California
American Staffing Association
Associated Builders and Contractors of California
Associated General Contractors
Building Owners and Managers Association of California
California Ambulance Association
California Asian Chamber of Commerce
California Association of Winegrape Growers
California Bankers Association
California Business Properties Association
California Cable and Telecommunications Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Chapter of American Fence Association
California Citrus Mutual
California Coalition on Workers' Compensation
California Cotton Ginners Association
California Cotton Growers Association
California Employment Law Council
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Fence Contractors' Association
California Grape and Tree Fruit League
California Grocers Association
California Hospital Association
California Landscape Contractors Association
California League of Food Processors
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California Pool and Spa Association
California Restaurant Association
California Staffing Professionals
California Trucking Association
AB 1897
Page S
Chambers of Commerce Alliance of Ventura and Santa Barbara
Counties
Civil Justice Association of California
Consolidated Communications, Inc.
Desert Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center
El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce
Family Winemakers Association
Flasher Barricade Association
Fullerton Chamber of Commerce
Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce
International Council of Shopping Centers
International Franchise Association
International Warehouse Logistics Association
Marin Builders Association
NAIOP of California, the Commercial Real Estate Development
Association
National Federation of Independent Business
Oxnard Chamber of Commerce
Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce
San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce
San Gabriel Valley Legislative Coalition of Chambers
San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce and Convention-Visitors Bureau
Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce
South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce
Southwest California Legislative Council
The Chamber of Commerce of the Santa Barbara Region
The United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley
Visalia Chamber of Commerce
Western Agricultural Processors Association
Western Growers Association
Wine Institute
Analysis Prepared by : Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091