California Workplace Outreach Program.

Plain English Breakdown

The exact languages into which materials must be translated have not been specified in the provided source material.

California Workplace Outreach Program

This law establishes a program in California that helps workers learn about workplace protections and rights, with materials translated into multiple languages.

What This Bill Does

• Establishes the California Workplace Outreach Program to promote awareness of workplace protections and help workers understand their rights.
• Requires the Department of Industrial Relations to issue competitive requests for applications to qualified organizations to provide education and outreach services to workers.
• Ensures that educational materials are translated into non-English languages as determined by the department in consultation with each qualified organization, based on geographic regions they serve.
• Necessitates meetings between the department and qualified organizations at least twice a year to coordinate outreach efforts.

Who It Names or Affects

• Workers in California who need information about workplace protections and rights.
• Organizations that provide education and outreach services to workers based on competitive requests for applications from the Department of Industrial Relations.
• The Department of Industrial Relations which oversees the program.

Terms To Know

Department of Industrial Relations

A part of the California government that works to improve working conditions and protect worker rights.

Qualified organizations

Groups chosen by the Department of Industrial Relations through a competitive request for application process to educate workers about their workplace rights.

Limits and Unknowns

• The program will only run until January 1, 2031.
• It depends on getting money from the government to work properly.

Official Summary Text

SB 578, Smallwood-Cuevas.
California Workplace Outreach Program.
Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to, among other things, foster, promote, and develop the welfare of wage earners, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.
This bill would, until January 1, 2031, require the department, upon appropriation of funds for this purpose, to establish and maintain the California Workplace Outreach Program to promote awareness of, and compliance with, workplace protections that affect workers. The bill would require the department to issue a competitive request for application for qualified organizations, as defined, to provide education and outreach services to workers and to assist workers to assert their workplace rights.
This bill would
require the department to guide discussions with qualified organizations regarding priority topics for outreach and education and to consult with those organizations and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and, as relevant, its departments and boards to create education and outreach materials informing workers of their rights on priority topics and training materials for workers and organizations. The bill would require the materials to be translated into non-English languages, to be determined by the department in consultation with each qualified organization, as appropriate for the geographic region the qualified organization serves, and would require the materials to be made in consultation and collaboration with the Civil Rights Department if those materials involve protections under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act or certain other statutes. The bill would require the department and qualified organizations to meet at least twice a year to coordinate outreach and education efforts
and for qualified organizations to share information relevant to enforcement activities of the department.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF