California has become the first state to protect warehouse workers at warehouse distribution centers. Assembly Bill 701 was introduced by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Deigo) and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom into law on September 22, 2021. However, the law will take effect after the holiday season, on January 1, 2022. That means that Amazon employees, and those working at other major companies, will finally see some protections.
The purpose of the law was to fill in a gap between federal and state labor laws. This void allowed companies like Amazon to produce and fufill massive online shopping surges, but at the cost to its employees with unsafe production quotas and work speeds. For example, Amazon employees had been surveilled on the job, supervised by algorithms, and required to meet dangerous quotas that did not consider the work speeds of the human body. When employees scanned packages, the algorithm detected the worker as “off-task.” When an employee accrued too much “time-off task,” it resulted in discipline and even termination. This forced many workers to neglect their basic needs, and many skipped bathroom breaks and rest times.
The quotas increased an employee’s risk of injury and illness as employees endured hours of lifting, bending, carrying, twisting, and packing heavy items.
The new law seeks to address those concerns. It addresses safer working conditions by requiring Amazon and other warehouse distribution centers to protect their workers against abusive conditions. Assembly Bill 701 does this in several ways.
Amazon employees and warehouse workers at other warehouse distribution centers should become familiar with the changes.
Employee Rights in Warehouse Distribution Centers
This law applies to warehouse distribution centers. That means an establishment that is defined under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). It includes general warehousing and storage, merchant wholesalers, durable goods, nondurable goods, electronic shopping, and mail-order houses. It does not cover farm product warehousing and storage.
Employee Right to Disclosure of Quotas
First, there is a disclosure requirement. This requires large warehouse distribution centers, like Amazon, to disclose production quotas. A written description of each quota is required. It must cover what the employee is responsible for, including the number of tasks to be performed, materials to be produced or handled, and the defined time period. The disclosure must also inform the employee of adverse employment actions should the employee fail to meet those quotas.
Quotas must be disclosed upon hire or within 30 days of the bill taking effect, which starts on January 1, 2022.
Warehouse Employee Wrongful Termination
In certain circumstances, an employer like Amazon is prohibited from taking adverse actions against an employee if there is a failure to meet quotas. Adverse actions include being fired, disciplined, or retaliated against in any way.
For example, suppose the quotas were never disclosed to the employee in the first place. In that case, an employer cannot punish them for failing to meet the quota. Another example is if the quota imposed stopped an employee from complying with meal and rest periods, which are required under California labor laws. The law prevents disciplining an employee from being “off-task” when they are complying with state health and safety laws.
The law protects current and former employees who believe fulfilling the imposed quota caused a violation of their meal rights, rest periods, or another occupational health and safety law. The current or former employee has a right to request a written description of each quota that the employee is subject to. The employer must comply with the request and provide the recent 90 days records of the employee’s personal work speed data. According to the law, the employer must comply within 21 calendar days from the request’s date.
The law doesn’t require employers to use quotas or monitor work speed. If an employer does not do those things, then there is no obligation to provide it.
Unlawful Retaliation
Employers who retaliate or discriminate against workers face serious consequences. The new law automatically presumes that there is unlawful retaliation if the employer is disciplined within 90 days of requesting the data or complaining to their employer or a state agency about the unsafe quota.
The employer has the burden to show why the employee was written up. The law allows workers and authorizes the Labor Commissioner to enforce rights under this bill. It empowers them to suspend unsafe quotas or reverse retaliatory actions against a worker for not meeting unsafe quotas.
If you have any questions about how this new law affects you, please contact us. Our employment attorneys at SANFORD A. KASSEL, A Professional Law Corporation, can help assess your case.
