PART 8.6. Warehouse Distribution Centers
2100.
As used in this part:(a) “Commissioner” means the Labor Commissioner.
(b) “Defined time period” means any unit of time measurement equal to or less than the duration of an employee’s shift, and includes hours, minutes, and seconds and any fraction thereof.
(c) “Division” means the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
(d) “Employee” means a nonexempt employee who works at a warehouse distribution center.
(e) (1) “Employee work speed data” means information an employer collects, stores, analyzes, or interprets relating to an individual employee’s performance of a quota, including, but not limited to, quantities of tasks performed, quantities of items or materials handled or produced, rates or speeds of tasks performed, measurements or metrics of employee performance in relation to a quota, and time categorized as performing tasks or not performing tasks.
(2) “Employee work speed data” does not include qualitative performance assessments, personnel records, or itemized wage statements pursuant to Section 226, except for any content of those records that includes employee work speed data as defined in this part.
(f) “Employer” means a person who directly or indirectly, or through
an agent or any other person, including through the services of a third-party employer, temporary service, or staffing agency or similar entity, employs or exercises control over the wages, hours, or working conditions of 100 or more employees at a single warehouse distribution center or 1,000 or more employees at one or more warehouse distribution centers in the state. For purposes of this definition, all employees of an employer’s commonly controlled group, as that term is defined in Section 25105 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, shall be counted in determining the number of employees employed at a single warehouse distribution center or at one or more warehouse distribution centers in the state.
(g) “Person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company,
business trust, estate, trust, association, joint venture, agency, instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity, whether domestic or foreign.
(h) “Quota” means a work standard under which an employee
is assigned or required to perform at a specified productivity speed, or perform a quantified number of tasks, or to handle or produce a quantified amount of material, within a defined time period and under which the employee may suffer an adverse employment action if they fail to complete the performance standard.
(i) (1) “Warehouse distribution center” means an establishment as defined by any of the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes, however that establishment is denominated:
(A) 493110 for General Warehousing and Storage.
(B) 423 for Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods.
(C) 424 for
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods.
(D) 454110 for Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses.
(2) The term “warehouse distribution center” does not include NAICS Code 493130, Farm Product Warehousing and Storage.
2101.
Each employer shall provide to each employee, upon hire, or within 30 days of the effective date of this part, a written description of each quota to which the employee is subject, including the quantified number of tasks to be performed or materials to be produced or handled, within the defined time period, and any potential adverse employment action that could result from failure to meet the quota.2102.
An employee shall not be required to meet a quota that prevents compliance with meal or rest periods, use of bathroom facilities, including reasonable travel time to and from bathroom facilities, or occupational health and safety laws in the Labor Code or division standards. An employer shall not take adverse employment action against an employee for failure to meet a quota that does not allow a worker to comply with meal and rest periods, or occupational health and safety laws in the Labor Code or division standards, or for failure to meet a quota that has not been disclosed to the employee pursuant to Section 2101.2103.
(a) Any actions taken by an employee to comply with occupational health and safety laws in the Labor Code or division standards shall be considered time on task and productive time for purposes of any quota or monitoring system.(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), consistent with existing law, meal and rest breaks are not considered productive time unless the employee is required to remain on call.
2104.
(a) (1) If a current or former employee believes that meeting a quota caused a violation of their right to a meal or rest period or required them to violate any occupational health and safety laws in the Labor Code or division standards, they have the right to request, and the employer shall provide, a written description of each quota to which the employee is subject and a copy of the most recent 90 days of the employee’s own personal work speed data.(2) If a former employee requests a written description of the quotas to which they were subject and a copy of their own personal work speed data pursuant to paragraph (1), the employer shall provide
90 days of the former employee’s quotas and personal work speed data for the 90 days prior to the date of the employee’s separation from the employer.
(3) A former employee is limited to one request pursuant to this subdivision.
(b) An employer that receives a written or oral request for information pursuant to subdivision (a) shall comply with the request as soon as practicable, but no later than 21 calendar days from the date of the request.
(c) Nothing in this section requires an employer to use quotas or monitor work speed data. An employer that does not monitor this data has no obligation to provide it.
2105.
For purposes of this part, there shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer in any manner discriminates, retaliates, or takes any adverse action against any employee within 90 days of the employee doing either of the following:(a) Initiating the employee’s first request in a calendar year for information about a quota or personal work speed data pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 2104.
(b) Making a complaint related to a quota alleging any violation of Sections 2101 to 2104, inclusive, to the commissioner, the division, other local or state governmental agency, or the
employer.
2106.
Upon receiving a complaint regarding a violation of this part, a state or local enforcement entity may request or subpoena the records of warehouse distribution center quotas and employee work speed data.2107.
(a) The commissioner shall do all of the following:(1) The commissioner shall enforce this part by engaging in coordinated and strategic enforcement efforts with the divisions within the Department of Industrial Relations, including the Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the Division of Workers’ Compensation. The commissioner shall have access to data from the department including employer-reported injury data and enforcement actions in warehouses, and the identity of uninsured employers, and employers who are committing workers’ compensation fraud, wage theft, or other information relevant to the commissioner’s authority.
(2) The commissioner shall strategically collaborate with stakeholders to educate workers and employers about their rights and obligations under this part, respectively, in order to increase compliance.
(3) (A) The commissioner shall report to the Legislature by January 1, 2023, the number of claims filed with the commissioner under this part, data on warehouse production quotas in warehouses in which the Division of Workers’ Compensation has indicated that annual employee injury rates are above the
industry average, and the number of investigations undertaken and enforcement actions initiated, per employer.
(B) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under subparagraph (A) is inoperative on January 1, 2027, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(C) A report to be submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(b) If a particular worksite or employer is found to have an annual employee injury rate of at least 1.5 times higher than the warehousing industry’s average annual injury rate, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health or the Division of Workers’ Compensation shall notify the commissioner, and the commissioner shall determine whether an investigation of violations pursuant to this part, if relevant to the commissioner’s authority, is appropriate. The commissioner may coordinate enforcement with other divisions within the Department of Industrial Relations, as needed.
(c) The commissioner shall have the authority to adopt regulations relating to the procedures for an employee to make a complaint alleging a violation of this part.
(d) The commissioner shall enforce this part using the procedures set forth in Sections 98, 98.3, 98.7, 98.74, and 1197.1.
(e) In any successful action brought by the commissioner to enforce this part, the court may grant injunctive relief in order to obtain compliance with the part, and shall award costs and reasonable attorney’s fee.
2108.
A current or former employee may bring an action for injunctive relief to obtain compliance with Sections 2101 to 2104, inclusive, and may, upon prevailing in the action, recover costs and reasonable attorney’s fees in that action. In any action involving a quota that prevented the compliance with regulations promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, the injunctive relief shall be limited to suspension of the quota and any adverse action that resulted from its enforcement.2109.
In any action by a current or former employee that could be brought pursuant to the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (Part 13 (commencing with Section 2698)) for violations of this part, the employer shall have the right to cure alleged violations as set forth in Section 2699.3. If, in that action, a violation of any occupational health and safety laws in the Labor Code or division standards contained in or interpreting Division 5 (commencing with Section 6300) is alleged, the current or former employee shall comply with the applicable procedural requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 2699.3.2110.
This part does not limit the authority of the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a city attorney, either upon their own complaint or the complaint of any person acting for themselves or the general public, to prosecute actions, either civil or criminal, for violations of this part, or to enforce the provisions thereof independently and without specific direction of the commissioner or the division.2111.
This part does not preempt any city, county, or city and county ordinance that provides equal or greater protection to employees who are covered by this part.2112.
The provisions of this part are severable. If any provision of this part or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.