Gavin Newsom has a pretty hit-and-miss record on labor issues, but one of this week's good labor decisions he made was signing AB 800 into law. This is touted as a "first-of-its-kind-law" which, according to bill sponsor Liz Ortega's press release, establishes "Workplace Readiness Week at all public high schools to teach students about their workplace rights, protections for minors on the job, and how to join or start a union."
It also appears to require—beginning next year—that any minor seeking employment to be given "a document clearly explaining basic labor rights extended to workers." The contents of this document are expected to be age-appropriate and cover the same provisions as Workplace Readiness Week; while not mandated, it's also the bill's recommendation that a template of this document be drafted in consultation with labor unions.
The bill's text specifies, for Workplace Readiness Week, that:
49110.5. (a) The week of each year that includes April 28 shall be known as “Workplace Readiness Week.” All public high schools, including charter schools, shall annually observe that week by providing information to pupils on their rights as workers. The topics covered shall include, but are not limited to, all the following:
- (1) Local, state, and federal laws regarding each of the following issues:
- (A) Prohibitions against misclassification of employees as independent contractors.
- (B) Child labor.
- (C) Wage and hour protections.
- (D) Worker safety.
- (E) Workers’ compensation.
- (F) Unemployment insurance.
- (G) Paid Sick Leave, Paid Family Leave, State Disability Insurance, and the California Family Rights Act.
- (H) The right to organize a union in the workplace.
- (I) Prohibitions against retaliation by employers when workers exercise these or any other rights guaranteed by law.
- (2) The labor movement’s role in winning the protections and benefits described in subparagraphs (A) to (I), inclusive, of paragraph (1).
As for the document expected to be given to minors seeking employment, the bill specifies that:
(c) (1) Beginning August 1, 2024, any minor seeking the signature of a verifying authority on a Statement of Intent to Employ a Minor and Request for a Work Permit-Certificate of Age under this chapter shall be issued, before or at the time of receiving the signature of the verifying authority, a document clearly explaining basic labor rights extended to workers.
- (2) Topics covered in this document shall include, but are not limited to, those identified in subparagraphs (A) to (I), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).
- (3) The University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education is encouraged to produce, with input from bona fide labor organizations, a draft template for the document to be provided to minors, including translations into other languages, including, but not limited to, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean.
- (4) The document shall express these labor rights in plain, natural terminology easily understood by the pupil.
- (5) The document shall be in a physical form in English and shall include both a Uniform Resource Locator for, and a quick response code linked to, an internet website with electronic versions of the document, and any translated versions of the document, produced by the University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education pursuant to paragraph (3).