Employers who fail to comply must provide back pay and more
Following incidents where companies laid off hundreds and even thousands of workers in recent months, the California legislature has proposed legislation that would better protect workers from mass layoffs.
Under Assembly Bill 1356 (aka the Protect Laid-Off Workers Act), employers must provide 90 days of notice before a mass layoff, relocation or termination at a covered establishment.
“Innovative industries like tech are a critical part of our state’s economy, and we know that tech companies start here and grow here because of our highly skilled workforce,” Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), who introduced the legislation, said in a statement, according to a Los Angeles Times report. “This bill is about protecting that workforce, from the engineers to the janitors, and making sure they’re treated fairly during a job transition. To be pro tech, we have to be pro tech-worker.”
Under AB 1356, an employer who fails to give notice is liable to each employee entitled to notice who lost their employment for back pay at the average regular rate of compensation that the employee received during the last three years of their employment, or the employee’s final rate of compensation, whichever is higher.
The employer must also pay the worker the value of the cost of any benefits to which the employee would have been entitled had their employment not been lost, including the cost of any medical expenses incurred by...
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