Assembly Bill 1897 is essentially an effort to hold employers who contract for labor accountable for wage and hour violations, something the legislature has sought to do in various failed legislative attempts over the last several years. Specifically, AB 1897 adds section 2810.3 to the Labor Code and requires client employers to share all civil legal responsibility and liability with labor contractors. “Client employer” is defined to exclude businesses with a workforce of less than 25 workers and employers who employ five or fewer workers through a labor contractor at any given time. The law excludes employees who are exempt from overtime wages in the calculations. The responsibility extended to the client employer includes not only wage and hour laws, but all workers’ compensation and Cal/OSHA requirements. Any contractual waiver regarding the application of the law between the client employer and the labor contractor is strictly prohibited, but the law does not prohibit the parties from enforcing otherwise lawful remedies against one another relating to their respective contractual obligations. The labor contractor and the employer are further prohibited from taking any adverse action against any worker for providing a notification of a violation or who files a claim or civil action. Interestingly, the law requires that a notice must be provided to the client employer for any violations at least 30 days prior to the filing of a civil action. The notice can be provided by either the worker or his or her representative.

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