(The Center Square) – California governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that prevents employees who report on any labor violations, or health, safety, or pay equity issues from being fired or punished for 90 days by creating a presumption that actions against such an employee within that period is a retaliatory action that can result in penalties for the employer of $10,000. While advocates say the measure is necessary to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers, other experts say the measure is ripe for abuse by individuals at risk of being fired who can use it to remain employed.
“Threats of retaliation have chilling effects in workplaces where employers maintain an unfair imbalance of power over workers’ jobs and earnings. According to the California Coalition for Worker Power that sponsored SB 497, threats of retaliation were enough to stop more than 40 percent of workers from seeking remedy for unjust and illegal conditions,” bill author Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, D–Los Angeles, said in a public statement. “An even greater share of Black and Latinx workers – 55% and 46%, respectively – say the risks of speaking out are too high, making preventing retaliation a critical equity issue.
Smallwood-Cuevas’ says that over 90% of retaliation complaints filed with the Labor Commissioner’s Office are dismissed, a fact she blames on the fact that “the worker currently has the burden of proving that they were retaliated against because they were exercising their...
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