On April 3, the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee passed Assembly Bills 1221 (Bryan) and 1331 (Elhawary) seek to restrict use of various technologies for monitoring the safety of workplaces and public areas in the name of protecting employee privacy.  By very broadly defining technologies covered and not carefully defining what an employer can or cannot do with information generated by those technologies, the bills will make employers responsible for limiting use of data created by such devices like key fobs, RFID devices, cellular phones and other web-enabled devices that they may or may not be intentionally using to monitor employee productivity or behavior.  At the same time, the bills complicate the use of monitoring technology intended to enhance the safety of employees and the public like closed-circuit cameras to monitor access points like doors and gates or technology to monitor vehicles for safe use.  Both bills passed Assembly Labor 5-0 and were referred to the Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection.  FELS parent organization, California Farm Bureau opposes both bills.

The Committee also passed on a 5-0 vote AB 1234 (Ortega), which imposes an additional 30% penalty on any award, order or penalty issued by the Labor Commissioner.  Styled as an “administrative fee,” the fee penalizes employers who seek a Labor Commissioner hearing to adjudicate honest disputes of facts and circumstances of a supposed violation of wage and hour requirements enforced by the Labor Commissioner.  FELS parent organization, California Farm Bureau, opposes.