Code Section

2670.  

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to restore the purpose of Assembly Bill 633 (Chapter 554 of the Statutes of 1999) to prevent wage theft against garment workers by clarifying ambiguities in the original language. Assembly Bill 633 sought to ensure that persons who contracted to have garments manufactured were liable as guarantors for the unpaid wages and overtime of the workers making their garments.

Several manufacturers, however, have attempted to avoid liability as a guarantor by adding layers of contracting between themselves and the employees manufacturing the garments. This undermines the purpose of Assembly Bill 633 because manufacturers have no incentive to ensure safe conditions or the proper minimum wage and overtime payments for the workers producing their garments if they do not face guarantor liability.

This act, therefore, revises this part to make clear that a person contracting to have garments made is liable for the full amount of unpaid minimum, regular, overtime, and other premium wages, as well as reimbursement for expenses owed to the workers who manufacture those garments regardless of how many layers of contracting that person may use.

Assembly Bill 633 was also designed to ensure that underpaid, and unpaid, garment workers would be able to recoup their stolen wages, even when factories shut down, declared bankruptcy, or otherwise shirked their obligations to lawfully pay their workers. In order to make sure that these workers were made whole, Assembly Bill 633 required that a portion of garment manufacturers’ annual registration or renewal fees be deposited into a fund. However, in the last 20 years, registration and renewal fees have remained frozen in place, while minimum wage and worker claims have risen steadily, meaning the revenues flowing into the fund have not kept up with the demands on the fund. As a result, workers who have already proven that they are owed stolen wages are on a waiting list, waiting anywhere from 5 to 20 years, to be paid. While the Legislature recently passed a budget with a one-time appropriation of funds temporarily eliminating the waiting list, structural change is necessary in order to permanently eliminate the hardship placed on garment workers who are unable to recoup their stolen wages within a reasonable amount of time.

(b) By restoring the original intent of this part, the Legislature will be able to more effectively establish and regulate a system of registration, penalties, confiscation, bonding requirements, and misdemeanors for the imposition of prompt and effective criminal and civil sanctions against violations of, and especially patterns and practices of violations of, any of the laws as set forth herein and regulations of this state applicable to the employment of workers in the garment industry. The civil penalties provided for in this part are in addition to any other penalty provided by law. This part shall be deemed an exercise of the police power of the state for the protection of the public welfare, prosperity, health, safety, and peace of the people of the State of California. Nothing herein shall prohibit a local municipality from enacting its own protections for workers employed in the garment industry, so long as those protections are equal to, or in addition to, the protections provided herein.