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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday approved what he called a “state-of-the-art” law requiring the garment industry to pay workers by the hour rather than for each garment that they produce.
Piece-rate pay can be used to pay workers below the minimum wage, supporters have said.
The bill makes California the first state to eliminate piece-rate pay, although there is an exception for jobsites covered by collective agreements, and the first to create liability for companies that subcontract with them. clothing manufacturers.
“For too long, bad actor makers have exploited unsanitary textile workers for as little as $ 5 an hour,” Democratic Senator MarÃa Elena Durazo said. She said her bill “would level the playing field for ethical manufacturers doing the right thing.”
Employees can still get incentive bonuses greater than their legal salary.
Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center that supported the bill, said the more than 45,000 garment workers in California are often immigrant women. Under the bill, she said, California “will no longer be the sweatshop capital of the United States.”
The California Chamber of Commerce objected that the measure “places a huge burden on employers in the garment industry,” including those who do not directly supervise workers but will now be responsible for their mistreatment. He predicted the law would bankrupt some employers or force them to leave California.
Advocacy group Legal Aid at Work, which backed the bill, said general accountability under the law is needed to “prevent malicious brands from avoiding surveillance and enforcement by overlaying contracts.” .
The measure was one of 18 employment-related bills signed by Newsom, a Democrat.
He also signed a second Durazo measure requiring all disabled employees to receive at least minimum wage.
California becomes the 13th state to end a practice that allowed companies with special licenses to pay people with disabilities a minimum wage, according to the State Council on Developmental Disabilities.
He estimated that 12,000 disabled Californians who work in so-called sheltered workshops can be paid as little as 15 cents an hour under a federal policy dating back to 1938.
The Alliance Supporting People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, which opposed the bill, argued that although sheltered workshops have fallen out of favor, they only employ those who have agreed to work there or whose families have agreed that this is the best option.
Unless the state can develop other options, he said the law “effectively eliminates the prospect of employment for many and, therefore, limits the choices a person may have before them.”
The law is phasing out the minimum wage over three years and by January 1, 2025, it is illegal to pay an employee with a physical or mental disability below the legal minimum wage.
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