Bill Text: CA AB1761 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Employee safety: hotel workers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-08-16 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB1761 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB1761-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
July 02, 2018 |
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Amended
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Assembly
May 25, 2018 |
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Amended
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Assembly
May 09, 2018 |
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Amended
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Assembly
April 23, 2018 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 1761 |
| Introduced by Assembly Members Muratsuchi, Quirk, and Carrillo (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonta, Gonzalez Fletcher, Kalra, Levine, McCarty, and Reyes) |
January 04, 2018 |
An act to add Section 6403.7 to the Labor Code, relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1761, as amended, Muratsuchi.
Employee safety: hotel workers.
Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires, among other things, that an employer provide for the safety of its employees. Existing law requires an employer to provide and use safety devices and safeguards reasonably adequate to render the employment and place of employment safe.
This bill would require, among other things, that a hotel employer, as defined, provide its employees, as defined, with a panic button, as specified, in order to summon immediate assistance when working alone in the guestroom. The bill would require a hotel employer to post a specified notice in each guestroom regarding these provisions. The bill would require a hotel employer to provide paid time off to an employee who is the victim of assault in order to contact the police, a counselor, medical professional, or an attorney. The
bill would require a hotel employer to provide reasonable accommodations to an employee who has been subjected to an act of violence, sexual assault, or sexual harassment by a guest, as specified. The bill would require a hotel employer, upon request of an employee, to contact law enforcement to report an act constituting a crime and to cooperate in the investigation. The bill would prohibit a hotel employer from discriminating or retaliating against an employee who reasonably uses a panic button, reports a specified act, requests time off, reasonable accommodations under these provisions. The bill would establish a minimum standard of protection for these employees and would authorize the enactment and enforcement of more protective policies.
The bill would impose a specified civil penalty on hotel employers for violations of its provisions and would provide legislative findings in support of its provisions.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares:(a) It is the intent of this measure to protect hotel employees from violent assault, including sexual assault, and sexual harassment, and to enable those employees to speak out when they experience harassment or assault on the job.
(b) Hotel employees are often asked to work alone in hotel rooms, which sometimes may be occupied, placing them at risk of violent assault, including sexual assault, and sexual harassment.
SEC. 2.
Section 6403.7 is added to the Labor Code, to read:6403.7.
(a) A hotel employer shall do all of the following:(1) Provide employees working alone in a guestroom with a panic button, free of charge. The employee may use the panic button, and cease work, if the employee reasonably believes there is an ongoing crime, harassment, or other emergency happening in the employee’s presence. The hotel employer shall develop an appropriate protocol, including any necessary training, for how staff, security, and management shall respond when a panic button is activated. The protocol shall be calculated to ensure an immediate on-scene response to the greatest extent possible.
(2) Post a notice on the back of each guestroom door with the heading, “The Law Protects Hotel Housekeepers and Other Employees from Sexual Assault and Harassment.” The notice shall be printed in no less than 18-point type and state that panic buttons are provided to hotel employees assigned to work alone in guestrooms, including housekeepers, room servers, and other employees.
(b) If an employee informs the hotel employer that the employee has been subjected to an act of violence, sexual assault, or sexual harassment by a guest, then the hotel employer shall do the following:
(1) Provide the employee with paid time off to contact law enforcement, seek injunctive or other legal relief, contact an attorney, or seek medical treatment, counseling, or other services for
any physical or mental injuries resulting from the act of violence, sexual assault, or sexual harassment. As a condition of taking time off for purposes of this paragraph, the employee shall give the employer reasonable advance notice of the employee’s intention to take time off, unless the advance notice is not feasible. When an unscheduled absence occurs, the hotel employer shall not take an adverse action against the employee if the employee, within a reasonable time, provides documentation showing that the absence was for a reason set forth in this paragraph.
(2) Provide, upon request by the employee, reasonable accommodations for an employee who has been subjected to an act of violence, sexual assault, or sexual harassment by a guest. Reasonable accommodations may include, but are not limited to, transfer, reassignment, modified
schedule, or any other reasonable adjustment to a job structure, workplace facility, or work requirement.
(3) Upon request of the employee, report the act committed against the employee to law enforcement and to cooperate in any law enforcement investigation, if the act constitutes a crime.
(4) Comply with any other obligations required by any applicable local, state, or federal law, including, but not limited to, the requirement to investigate all reports of workplace harassment and to take appropriate corrective actions, as provided in subdivisions (j) and (k) of Section 12940 of the Government Code.
(c) A hotel employer shall not discharge or in any manner discriminate or retaliate against an employee who
reasonably uses a panic button, reports an act of violence, sexual assault, or sexual harassment, takes time off, or requests reasonable accommodations as provided by this section. The protections provided by this subdivision are in addition to any protections against retaliation provided under Section 98.6, 98.7, or 1102.5. 1102.5 of this code, or subdivision (h) of Section 12940 of the Government Code.
(d) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following definitions:
(1) “Employee” means an individual who, in any particular workweek, performs at least two hours of work for a hotel
employer. “Employee” also includes a subcontracted worker.
(2) “Hotel employer” means a person, including a corporate officer or executive, who directly or indirectly, including through the services of a temporary staffing service or agency, employs or exercises control over the wages, hours, or working conditions of employees at a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or similar transient lodging establishment as defined in Section 1865 of the Civil Code and includes any contracted, leased, or sublet premises connected to or operated in conjunction with the purpose of the lodging establishment.
(3) “Panic button” means an emergency contact device that an employee can use to summon immediate on-scene assistance from another employee, security personnel, or
representative of the hotel employer.
(e) In lieu of any other penalty provided by Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 6423), a hotel employer that violates this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) for each day that the violation continues, not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(f) This section establishes a minimum standard to protect against violence or sexual harassment of all hotel employees in this state, unless not subject to this section, and is in addition to, and supplementary to, any other federal, state, or local law or ordinance, or any rule or regulation issued thereunder. A city, county, or city and county shall have the power to adopt laws or
ordinances, and rules and regulations thereunder, establishing antiviolence and antiharassment standards for hotel employees within their jurisdictions. Antiviolence and antiharassment standards for hotel employees established by applicable federal, state, or local law or ordinance, or any rule or regulation issued thereunder, which are more favorable to hotel employees than the minimum standards applicable under this section, or any rule or regulation issued hereunder, shall not be affected by this section and those other laws, rules, or regulations, and shall have full force and effect and may be enforced as provided by law.
