California Assemblymember Sharp-Collins Introduces Workplace Safety Bill Authorizing Refusals to Work and Requiring Wages - The National Law Review
Related Practices & Jurisdictions
On February 21, 2025, California Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins (D), representing San Diego, introduced Assembly Bill (AB) No. 1371 (“Right to Refuse Unsafe Work With Pay”) in the California State Assembly. The measure, which is now pending before the Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment, would revise and expand employee protections and establish continuing wage payment obligations if an employer fails to abate a work hazard to an employee’s satisfaction.
Existing law prohibits California employers from laying off or discharging an employee for refusing to perform work that would violate prescribed safety standards where the violation would create a real and apparent hazard to the employee or other employees.
Quick Hits
- California AB 1371 would revise and expand employee protections and establish continuing wage payment obligations if an employer fails to abate a work hazard—including heat illness—to an employee’s satisfaction.
- The bill specifically provides a “right of action” for the recovery of unpaid wages for the employer’s failure to pay “full wages” as described.
- The bill provides for payment of “full wages” if the employee complies with the bill’s enumerated conditions and the employer doesn’t assign a different task to the employee that would not expose the employee to the health and safety risks...
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