Occupational safety and health: employee refusal to perform hazardous tasks.
Vote required
Majority
Fiscal committee
No
Appropriation
No
Current location
Labor and Employment
Take action
Record your position on this measure.
Create an account to record your position, submit testimony, or contact your legislator.
Progress
Where this bill stands in the legislative process.
- Introduced
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
- To Governor
- Became Law
Overview
This bill strengthens employee protections regarding workplace safety by allowing employees to refuse to perform tasks that pose a real and apparent hazard to themselves or others, even if it doesn’t immediately violate a specific safety standard. Employees must first communicate the safety concern to their employer, who then has a responsibility to address it. Employers cannot discipline or discharge employees for exercising this right, and employees will receive their full wages during the period they refuse to perform the task until the hazard is resolved.
Key provisions
- Employees can refuse to perform tasks posing a real and apparent hazard.
- Employees must communicate safety concerns to their employer.
- Employers must respond to employee concerns regarding safety risks.
- Employees will receive full wages during the refusal period.
- Employers cannot discipline or discharge employees for exercising this right.
- The bill clarifies the definition of ‘injury or illness’ for the purpose of this law.
- It prohibits retaliation against employees who refuse to perform unsafe tasks.
- The definition of ‘employee’ is revised to remove the exception for domestic work employees.
Who is affected
- Employees
- Employers
- California Department of Industrial Relations
- Workers
- Domestic workers
Notable changes
Bill text
Read the latest version inline or switch to a previous version.
Text extraction is in progress. View the official source.
Sponsors
Official sponsors from legislative records.
1 on record
Primary sponsor
Arguments
Reasons offered for and against this legislation.
Arguments in favor
No arguments in favor have been submitted.
Submit yoursArguments opposed
No arguments opposed have been submitted.
Submit yours