Bill Text: CA SB725 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Grocery workers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2024-01-25 - Veto sustained. [SB725 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB725-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  March 20, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 725

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Introduced by Senator Smallwood-Cuevas

February 16, 2023

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An act to add Section 1401.1 to amend Section 2502 of, and to add Section 2507 to, the Labor Code, relating to private employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 725, as amended, Smallwood-Cuevas. Grocery workers: relocations, terminations, and mass layoffs. workers.

Existing law provides that an employer, with certain exceptions, may not order a mass layoff, relocation or termination, as defined, at a covered establishment unless the employer gives written notice of the order to the employees of the covered establishment affected by the order and specified entities, including the Employment Development Department and the local workforce investment board.

Existing law, upon change in control of a grocery establishment, provides for a transitional retention transition employment period for eligible grocery workers by requiring a successor grocery employer to hire from a list of eligible grocery workers provided by the incumbent grocery employer and to retain those employees for a specified period, 90 days, except as specified. Existing law exempts from those provisions grocery establishments that are located in geographic areas designated by the United States Department of Agriculture as a food desert if specified conditions apply.

This bill would prohibit a grocery establishment, where the change in control is a merger, from ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment unless, 180 days before the order takes effect, the employer gives notice of the order to the employees of the covered establishment affected by the order, the Employment Development Department, the local workforce investment board, and the chief elected official of each city and county government within which the termination, relocation, or mass layoff occurs. This bill would require the notice to also be served upon the Department of Justice, the State Department of Public Health, and the State Department of Social Services if the grocery establishment is located in a geographic area designated by the United States Department of Agriculture as a food desert. revise the definitions of “change in control,” “grocery establishment,” and “successor grocery employer” for purposes of those provisions. The bill would require a successor grocery employer to provide an eligible grocery employee severance pay equal to one week of pay for each full year of employment with the incumbent grocery employer if the successor grocery employer does not hire an eligible grocery worker following a change in control or does not retain an eligible grocery worker for at least 90 days following the change in control or the eligible grocery worker’s employment commencement date, except as specified.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YESNO   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 2502 of the Labor Code is amended to read:

2502.

 For purposes of this part, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) “Change in control” means any sale, purchase, assignment, acquisition, transfer, contribution, or other disposition of all or substantially all of the assets assets, cash on hand, or a controlling interest, including by consolidation, merger, or reorganization, of or by the incumbent grocery employer or any person who controls the incumbent grocery employer or any grocery establishment under the operation or control of either the incumbent grocery employer or any person who controls the incumbent grocery employer.

(b) “Eligible grocery worker” means any individual whose primary place of employment is at the grocery establishment subject to a change in control, and who has worked for the incumbent grocery employer for at least six months prior to the execution of the transfer document. “Eligible grocery worker” does not include a managerial, supervisory, or confidential employee.

(c) “Employment commencement date” means the date on which an eligible grocery worker retained by the successor grocery employer pursuant to this part commences work for the successor grocery employer in exchange for benefits and compensation under the terms and conditions established by the successor grocery employer and as required by law.

(d) “Grocery establishment” means a retail store in this state that is over 15,000 square feet in size and that sells primarily household foodstuffs for offsite consumption, including the sale of fresh produce, meats, poultry, fish, deli products, dairy products, canned foods, dry foods, beverages, baked foods, or prepared foods. Other household supplies or other products shall be secondary to the primary purpose of food sales. A distribution center owned and operated by a grocery establishment and used primarily to distribute goods to or from its owned stores shall be considered a grocery establishment regardless of its square footage. A grocery establishment does not include a retail store that has ceased operations for six months or more.

(e) “Incumbent grocery employer” means the person that owns, controls, or operates the grocery establishment at the time of the change in control.

(f) “Person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, business trust, estate, trust, association, joint venture, agency, instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity, whether domestic or foreign.

(g) “Successor grocery employer” means the person that owns, controls, or operates the grocery establishment after the change in control. A successor grocery employer may be the same entity as an incumbent employer when a change in control occurs but the covered employer remains the same.

(h) “Transfer document” means the purchase agreement or other document effecting the change in control.

SEC. 2.

 Section 2507 is added to the Labor Code, to read:

2507.

 (a) Notwithstanding other provisions of this part, if a successor grocery employer does not hire an eligible grocery worker following a change in control or does not retain an eligible grocery worker for at least 90 days following the change in control or the eligible grocery worker’s employment commencement date, whichever is later, the successor grocery company shall, unless the eligible grocery worker has quit or has been discharged for cause, provide the eligible grocery employee severance pay equal to one week of pay for each full year of employment with the incumbent grocery employer. The rate of severance pay shall be the average regular rate of compensation received during the eligible grocery worker’s last three years of employment with the incumbent grocery employer or the final regular rate of compensation paid to the eligible grocery worker, whichever rate is higher. The successor grocery employer shall provide the greater of the severance pay required pursuant to this subdivision or the severance pay required pursuant to the terms of a relevant collective bargaining agreement, if any.

(b) Parties subject to this part may, by collective bargaining agreement, provide that the agreement supersedes the requirements of this part in whole or in part, but only if the waiver is explicitly set for in that agreement in clear and unambiguous terms.

SECTION 1.Section 1401.1 is added to the Labor Code, to read:

1401.1.

(a)An employer that is a grocery establishment as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 2502 where the change in control as described in subdivision (a) of Section 2502 is a merger may not order a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment unless, 180 days before the order takes effect, the employer gives written notice of the order to the following:

(1)The employees of the covered establishment affected by the order.

(2)The Employment Development Department, the local workforce investment board, and the chief elected official of each city and county government within which the termination, relocation, or mass layoff occurs.

(b)An employer required to give notice of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination under this chapter shall include in its notice the elements required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2101 et seq.).

(c)Notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (a), an employer is not required to provide notice if a mass layoff, relocation, or termination is necessitated by a physical calamity or act of war.

(d)If the grocery establishment that is the subject of the mass layoff is located in a geographic area designated by United States Department of Agriculture as a food desert, the notice required by subdivision (a) shall also be served upon the Department of Justice, the State Department of Public Health, and the State Department of Social Services.