BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2288
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 2288 (Roger Hernández) - As Introduced: February 21, 2014
SUBJECT : Child Labor Protection Act of 2014
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD THE CHILD LABOR PROTECTION ACT OF 2014 BE
ENACTED TO STRENGTHEN CURRENT LAW TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM CHILD
LABOR LAW ABUSES?
SYNOPSIS
According to the author, some of the nation's earliest labor
laws were designed to protect child laborers from exploitation
and abusive working conditions. However, child labor law
violations continue to be rampant across many industries. In
November 2011, Human Rights Watch published a report on child
labor in the United States that exposed the fact that children
as young as seven are working on farms, often 10 or more hours
per day at the peak of harvest. In addition, the National Human
Trafficking Resource Center reported that from 2007 to 2013, 20
percent of calls to their hotline from California reported labor
trafficking, and nearly 30 percent of the victims were minors.
This measure seeks to enact The Child Labor Protection Act Of
2014 which would strengthen current law to protect children from
child labor law abuses by tolling pertinent statutes of
limitations periods, strengthening protections from retaliation,
and strengthening civil penalties for violations of statutes
protecting children from such labor abuses. Given that this
measure just arrived in this Committee and is primarily in the
jurisdiction of that Committee, and that the expert staff of
that Committee prepared an excellent and thorough report of the
measure, this analysis relies almost exclusively on the
excellent recent analysis of that Committee. The bill recently
passed the Labor and Employment Committee on April 23, 2014, by
a bipartisan vote of 7-0. It has no known opposition.
SUMMARY : Enacts the Child Labor Protection Act of 2014 to
strengthen current law to protect children from child labor law
abuses by tolling pertinent statutes of limitations periods,
strengthening protections from retaliation, and strengthening
civil penalties for violations of statutes protecting children
from such labor abuses. Specifically, this bill :
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1)Provides that the statute of limitations for claims arising
under the Labor Code shall be tolled until an individual
allegedly aggrieved by an unlawful practice attains the age of
majority, and provides that this provision is declaratory of
existing law.
2)Provides that, in addition to other remedies available, an
individual who is discharged, threatened with discharge,
demoted, suspended, retaliated against, subjected to an
adverse action, or in any other manner discriminated against
in the terms or conditions of his or her employment because
the individual filed a claim or civil action alleging a
violation of the Labor Code that arose while the individual
was a minor, whether the claim or civil action was filed
before or after the individual reached the age of majority,
shall be entitled to treble damages.
3)Provides that specified serious violations of existing law
that involve a minor 12 years of age or younger shall be
subject to a civil penalty in an amount not less than
twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) and not exceeding fifty
thousand dollars ($50,000) for each violation.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Generally provides for a three year statute of limitations for
an action upon a liability created by statute, other than a
penalty or forfeiture. (Code of Civil Procedure section 338.)
2)Provides that if a person entitled to bring specified actions
is, at the time the cause of action accrued either under the
age of majority or insane, the time of the disability is not
part of the time limited for the commencement of the action.
(Code of Civil Procedure section 352.)
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed
non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : According to the author, some of the nation's
earliest labor laws were designed to protect child laborers from
exploitation and abusive working conditions. However, child
labor law violations continue to be rampant across many
industries. In November 2011, Human Rights Watch published a
report on child labor in the United States which exposed the
AB 2288
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fact that children as young as seven are working on farms, often
10 or more hours per day at the peak of harvest. In addition,
the National Human Trafficking Resource Center reported that
from 2007 to 2013, 20 percent of calls to their hotline from
California reported labor trafficking, and nearly 30 percent of
the victims were minors. This measure seeks to enact The Child
Labor Protection Act Of 2014 which would strengthen current law
to protect children from child labor law abuses by tolling
pertinent statutes of limitations periods, strengthening
protections from retaliation, and strengthening civil penalties
for violations of statutes protecting children from such labor
abuses. The measure recently passed the Labor and Employment
Committee on April 23, 2014, by a bipartisan vote of 7-0.
Tolling of the Statute of Limitations . As noted above, existing
law already provides that the statute of limitations for claims
created by a statute is tolled until an individual reaches the
age of majority. This bill would add similar language to the
Labor Code to specify that claims arising from child labor
violations are similarly tolled until the individual reaches the
age of majority. According to the author, this acknowledges the
fact that minors may not be fully aware of their rights under
the law, and are uniquely vulnerable to intimidation and
coercion not to come forward with claims for violation of the
law.
Provisions Related to Discrimination and Retaliation for Child
Labor Claims . According to the author, due to their age, child
workers are uniquely vulnerable to intimidation and retaliation,
which often prevents them from asserting their rights under the
law. This bill would strengthen protections for these most
vulnerable workers by providing that an individual who is
discharged, threatened with discharge, demoted, suspended,
retaliated against, subjected to an adverse action, or in any
other manner discriminated against in the terms or conditions of
his or her employment because the individual filed a claim or
civil action alleging a violation of the Labor Code that arose
while the individual was a minor shall be entitled to treble
damages. The author contends that this would provide a powerful
disincentive to employers to retaliate against these most
vulnerable workers.
Proposed Increases to Civil Penalties for the Most Serious Child
Labor Violations Involving Minors Aged 12 Years or Younger .
Existing law provides for two types of civil penalties for child
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labor violations. Class "A" violations are the most serious
violations that present an imminent danger to minor employees or
risk of death or serious harm, and contain a civil penalty of
$5,000-$10,000. Class "B" violations are less serious and
provide a civil penalty of $500-$1,000. This bill would
increase the civil penalty for class "A" (the most serious
violations) where the minor is 12 years of age or younger to
$25,000-$50,000. According to the author, this would provide
added protections for our youngest child laborers against the
most serious types of violations.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters of this bill, including the
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council, state that over 100
years ago, policymakers in this country began to question the
benefits of child labor and started to recognize some of its
evils. Laws were passed and organizations devoted to root out
this problem were formed. Unfortunately, exploitation of
children in the workplace is still a popular way for
unscrupulous employers to reduce costs. Besides loss of
childhood, these children experience wage theft, increased
instances of work-related injuries, and other abuses.
Supporters argue that some may think this is a problem that only
exists in other places; however, this is simply not true. It
happens right here, in every region and city in California.
This bill would provide some meaningful penalties and the
procedural ability for victims to get justice. Moreover, it may
provide just enough disincentive to keep some employers from
engaging in this practice.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Conference of Machinists
California Conference of the Amalgamated Transit Union
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Communications Workers of America, District 9
Engineers & Scientists, Local 20
International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Coast Division
Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21
AB 2288
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UNITE HERE
Utility Workers Union of America, Local 132
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Drew Liebert / JUD. / (916) 319-2334