Bill Text: CA AB1066 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Agricultural workers: wages, hours, and working conditions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-09-12 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 313, Statutes of 2016. [AB1066 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB1066-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1066 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 313
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 12, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 12, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 17, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 22, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 14, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 14, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Gonzalez, Bonta, Cristina Garcia,
Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, McCarty, and Thurmond
(Principal coauthor: Senator Hall)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chiu, Chu, Gatto, Lopez, Medina, Mark
Stone, Ting, and Weber)
(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Block, Mitchell, and Monning)
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend Section 554 of, and to add Chapter 6 (commencing
with Section 857) to Part 2 of Division 2 of, the Labor Code,
relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1066, Gonzalez. Agricultural workers: wages, hours, and working
conditions.
Existing law sets wage, hour, meal break requirements, and other
working conditions for employees and requires an employer to pay
overtime wages as specified to an employee who works in excess of a
workday or workweek, as defined, and imposes criminal penalties for
the violation of these requirements. Existing law exempts
agricultural employees from these requirements. Under existing law,
the function of the Department of Industrial Relations is to, among
other things, foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage
earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to
advance their opportunities for profitable employment.
This bill would remove the exemption for agricultural employees
regarding hours, meal breaks, and other working conditions, including
specified wage requirements, and would create a schedule that would
phase in overtime requirements for agricultural workers, as defined,
over the course of 4 years, from 2019 to 2022, inclusive. Beginning
January 1, 2022, the bill would require any work performed by a
person, employed in an agricultural occupation, in excess of 12 hours
in one day to be compensated at the rate of no less than twice the
employee's regular rate of pay. The bill would provide employers who
employ 25 or fewer employees an additional 3 years to comply with the
phasing in of these overtime requirements. The bill would authorize
the Governor to delay the implementation of these overtime pay
provisions if the Governor also suspends the implementation of a
scheduled state minimum wage increase, as specified. The bill would
require the Department of Industrial Relations to update a specified
wage order for consistency with these provisions, as specified.
The bill would create a state-mandated local program by including
agricultural employees as a class of employees protected by criminal
penalties under existing law.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 554 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
554. (a) Sections 551 and 552 do not apply to cases of emergency
or to work performed in the protection of life or property from loss
or destruction, or to any common carrier engaged in or connected with
the movement of trains. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed
to prevent an accumulation of days of rest when the nature of the
employment reasonably requires that the employee work seven or more
consecutive days, if in each calendar month the employee receives
days of rest equivalent to one day's rest in seven. The requirement
respecting the equivalent of one day's rest in seven shall apply,
notwithstanding the other provisions of this chapter relating to
collective bargaining agreements, where the employer and a labor
organization representing employees of the employer have entered into
a valid collective bargaining agreement respecting the hours of work
of the employees, unless the agreement expressly provides otherwise.
(b) In addition to the exceptions specified in subdivision (a),
the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement may, when in
his or her judgment hardship will result, exempt any employer or
employees from the provisions of Sections 551 and 552.
SEC. 2. Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 857) is added to Part 2
of Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:
CHAPTER 6. AGRICULTURE
857. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Phase-In
Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016.
858. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Agricultural employees engage in back-breaking work every day.
(b) Few occupations in today's America are as physically demanding
and exhausting as agricultural work.
(c) In 1938, the United States Congress enacted the federal Fair
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.), which
excluded agricultural workers from wage protections and overtime
compensation requirements.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact the Phase-In
Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016 to provide any person
employed in an agricultural occupation in California, as defined in
Order No. 14-2001 of the Industrial Welfare Commission (revised
07-2014) with an opportunity to earn overtime compensation under the
same standards as millions of other Californians.
859. For purposes of this chapter, "employed in an agricultural
occupation" has the same meaning as in Order No.14-2001 of the
Industrial Welfare Commission (revised 07-2014).
860. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including
Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 500):
(a) (1) Commencing January 1, 2019, except as provided in
paragraph (2), any person employed in an agricultural occupation
shall not be employed more than nine and one-half hours in any one
workday or work in excess of 55 hours in any one workweek, unless the
employee receives one and one-half times that employee's regular
rate of pay for all hours worked over nine and one-half hours in any
workday or over 55 hours in any workweek.
(2) This subdivision shall apply to an employer who employs 25 or
fewer employees commencing January 1, 2022.
(b) (1) Commencing January 1, 2020, except as provided in
paragraph (2), any person employed in an agricultural occupation
shall not be employed more than nine hours in any one workday or work
in excess of 50 hours in any one workweek, unless the employee
receives one and one-half times that employee's regular rate of pay
for all hours worked over nine hours in any workday or over 50 hours
in any workweek.
(2) This subdivision shall apply to an employer who employs 25 or
fewer employees commencing January 1, 2023.
(c) (1) Commencing January 1, 2021, except as provided in
paragraph (2), any person employed in an agricultural occupation
shall not be employed more than eight and one-half hours in any one
workday or work in excess of 45 hours in any one workweek, unless the
employee receives one and one-half times that employee's regular
rate of pay for all hours worked over eight and one-half hours in any
workday or over 45 hours in any workweek.
(2) This subdivision shall apply to an employer who employs 25 or
fewer employees commencing January 1, 2024.
(d) (1) Commencing January 1, 2022, except as provided in
paragraph (2), any person employed in an agricultural occupation
shall not be employed more than eight hours in any one workday or
work in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek, unless the employee
receives one and one-half times that employee's regular rate of pay
for all hours worked over eight hours in any workday or over 40 hours
in any workweek.
(2) This subdivision shall apply to an employer who employs 25 or
fewer employees commencing January 1, 2025.
861. Except as set forth in Section 860 and subdivision (a) of
Section 862, all other provisions of Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 500) regarding compensation for overtime work shall apply to
workers in an agricultural occupation commencing January 1, 2017.
862. (a) Beginning January 1, 2022, except as provided in
subdivision (c), and consistent with Section 510, any work performed
by a person, employed in an agricultural occupation, in excess of 12
hours in one day shall be compensated at the rate of no less than
twice the employee's regular rate of pay.
(b) Consistent with Section 861, notwithstanding subdivision (a)
or Section 863, the other provisions of Section 510 shall be
applicable to workers in an agricultural occupation commencing
January 1, 2019.
(c) Subdivision (a) shall apply to an employer who employs 25 or
fewer employees commencing January 1, 2025.
863. (a) Notwithstanding Section 860 or 862, the Governor may
temporarily suspend scheduled phase in of the overtime requirements
set forth in Section 860, or subdivision (a) of Section 862 only if
the Governor suspends scheduled minimum wage increases pursuant to
clause (i) of subparagraph (A) of, and subparagraph (B) of, paragraph
(3) of subdivision (d) of Section 1182.12.
(b) If the Governor makes a final determination to temporarily
suspend scheduled phase in of the overtime requirements set forth in
Section 860 or subdivision (a) of Section 862 for the following year,
all implementation dates applicable to Section 860 and subdivision
(a) of Section 862 that are suspended subsequent to the September 1
final determination date, consistent with clause (i) of subparagraph
(A) of, and subparagraph (B) of, paragraph (3) of subdivision (d) of
Section 1182.12, shall be postponed by an additional year, but the
full implementation of the overtime requirements set forth in Section
860 or subdivision (a) of Section 862 shall in no event be later
than January 1, 2022. The Governor's temporary suspension under this
section shall be by proclamation.
(c) The Governor's authority to suspend the scheduled overtime
requirements under this section shall end upon the phase in of the
overtime requirements contained in subdivision (d) of Section 860,
the phase in of the overtime requirements contained in subdivision
(c) of Section 862, or January 1, 2025, whichever occurs first.
864. The Department of Industrial Relations shall update Wage
Order No. 14-2001 to be consistent with this chapter, except that any
existing provision in Wage Order 14-2001 providing greater
protections or benefits to agricultural employees shall continue in
full force and effect, notwithstanding any provision of this chapter.
SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
