State labor legislation enacted in 1986

Monthly Labor Review, Jan, 1987 by Richard R. Nelson

Agriculture. Among a number of actions to improve housing conditions for farm-workers, the Department of Housing and Community Development was directed to establish procedures and devote resources to locate and prosecute the most serious violators of the housing standards requirements. The department is also to conduct at least four public hearings during 1987 to determine the existing need for migrant farmworker housing and to report to the legislature on or before February 15, 1988, and to adopt and make available to the public model or prototype plans for several types of housing.

If a labor camp is determined to be overcrowded, the affected residents are to be provided with notice of the condition and be given reasonable opportunity to correct the violation prior to action being taken. If it is necessary to institute proceedings, a hearing may be held at which the residents may appear. If on appeal it is determined that vacating the accommodations is the only means of abatement, consideration must be given to the availability of alternative housing.

Equal employment opportunity. The legislature requested that the Department of Fair Employment and Housing continue to operate the employment discrimination clinic at the University of California School of LAw in Berkely, and suggested that similar programs be established at each of the University of California's law schools and encouraged at private law schools.

Worker privacy. An ordinance passed in late 1985 prohibits public and private employers within the city and county of San Francisco from requesting or requiring employees to undergo tests to determine chemical substances in the body, such as drugs, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe the employee's facilities are impaired, there is a clear and present danger to the employee, other workers, or the public, and the employee has the opportunity to have the sample tested by an independent facility and is provided opportunity to rebut or explain the results. Certain police, fire, and emergency employees are not covered by the ordinance.

Employers in San Francisco are also prohibited from interfering in an employee's personal relationships, organizations, or activities unless there is a direct and actual impact on the employee's ability to perform the job.

Private employment agencies. The law regulating talent agencies was amended to provide additional protections for artists, performers, and other persons using such agencies, including a requirement that any funds received by the agency on behalf of a client be immediately deposited in a trust fund account and disbursed within 15 days. Agency surety bonds were increased from $1,000 to $10,000, and discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, religion, or handicap was prohibited.

Employment agencies charging fees exclusively to employers, except for those providing babysitting or domestic employment, will be exempt from the private employment agency licensing and regulatory requirements between July 1, 1987, and January 1, 1991.