Existing law deems the month of May to be Labor History Month throughout the public schools, and encourages school districts to commemorate that month with appropriate educational exercises that make pupils aware of the role the labor movement has played in shaping California and the United States.

This bill would require the week of each year that includes April 28 to be known as “Workplace Readiness Week.” The bill would require all public high schools, including charter schools, to annually observe that week by providing information to pupils on their rights as workers, and would specify the topics to be covered. The bill would require the observances to be integrated into the regular school program in grades 11 and 12, consistent with the history-social science framework. By imposing additional duties on public school officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to annually send a written notice to every public high school, including charter schools, with certain information relating to Workplace Readiness Week, as provided.

Existing law authorizes specific school administrators to issue a work permit to pupils subject to specific requirements, including requiring certain information to be included on the work permit.

This bill would require, 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 to 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, as provided. The bill would encourage the University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education to produce, with input from bona fide labor organizations, a draft template for the document to be provided to minors, including translations into languages other than English, as specified. The bill would require the document to express those labor rights in plain, natural terminology easily understood by the pupil. The bill would require the document, in English, to be in a physical form and include a Uniform Resource Locator for, and a quick response code linked to, an internet website with electronic versions of the document, including any translated versions of the document, produced by the University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. To the extent these requirements would impose additional duties on public school officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.