CA SB 553
Title: Occupational safety: workplace violence: restraining orders and workplace violence prevention plan.
Author: David D. Cortese
Summary
SB 553, as amended, Cortese. Occupational safety: workplace violence: restraining orders and workplace violence prevention plan. Existing law authorizes any employer, whose employee has suffered unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence from any individual that can reasonably be construed to be carried out or to have been carried out at the workplace, to seek a temporary restraining order and an order after hearing on behalf of the employee and other employees at the workplace, as described.This bill, commencing January 1, 2025, would also authorize a collective bargaining representative of an employee, as described, to seek a temporary restraining order and an order after hearing on behalf of the employee and other employees at the workplace, as described. The bill would require an employer or collective bargaining representative of an employee, before filing such a petition, to provide the employee who has suffered unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence from any individual an opportunity to decline to be named in the temporary restraining order. Under the bill, an employee’s request to not be named in the temporary restraining order would not prohibit an employer or collective bargaining representative from seeking a temporary restraining order on behalf of other employees at the workplace, and, if appropriate, other employees at other workplaces of the employer. The bill would make various conforming changes.Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, imposes safety responsibilities on employers and employees, including the requirement that an employer establish, implement, and maintain an effective injury prevention program, and makes specified violations of these provisions a crime. The act is enforced by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (division) within the Department of Industrial Relations, including the enforcement of standards adopted by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards board (standards board).This bill would require an employer, as specified, to also establish, implement, and maintain, at all times in all work areas, an effective workplace violence prevention plan containing specified information. The bill would require the employer to record information in a violent incident log for every workplace violence incident, as specified. The bill would require the employer to provide effective training to employees on the workplace violence prevention plan, among other things, and provide additional training when a new or previously unrecognized workplace violence hazard has been identified and when changes are made to the plan. The bill would require records of workplace violence hazard identification, evaluation, and correction and training records to be created and maintained, and violent incident logs and workplace incident investigation records to be maintained, as specified. The bill would require certain records to be made available to the division, employees, and employee representatives, as specified. The bill would make these requirements operative on and after July 1, 2024.Existing law requires the division to issue, with reasonable promptness, a citation to an employer if, upon inspection or investigation, the division believes the employer has violated any standard, rule, order, or regulation established pursuant to specified provisions of law. Existing law specifies procedures for issuance of the citation and provides there is a rebuttable presumption that a violation is enterprise-wide if an employer has multiple worksites and the division has evidence of a pattern or practice of the same violation or violations committed by the employer involving more than one of their worksites. Existing law also authorizes the division to impose a civil penalty pursuant to specified law, including when any employer violates any occupational safety or health standard, order, or special order, if the violation is a serious violation.This bill woul
Status
Ordered to third reading.
Bill Documents
CA SB 553 - 09/07/23 - Amended Assembly
09/07/23 - CA SB 553 (09/07/23 - Amended Assembly)
CA SB 553 - 09/01/23 - Amended Assembly
09/01/23 - CA SB 553 (09/01/23 - Amended Assembly)
CA SB 553 - 07/10/23 - Amended Assembly
07/10/23 - CA SB 553 (07/10/23 - Amended Assembly)
CA SB 553 - 06/20/23 - Amended Assembly
06/20/23 - CA SB 553 (06/20/23 - Amended Assembly)
CA SB 553 - 05/22/23 - Amended Senate
05/22/23 - CA SB 553 (05/22/23 - Amended Senate)
CA SB 553 - 04/17/23 - Amended Senate
04/17/23 - CA SB 553 (04/17/23 - Amended Senate)
CA SB 553 - 03/28/23 - Amended Senate
03/28/23 - CA SB 553 (03/28/23 - Amended Senate)
CA SB 553 - 03/20/23 - Amended Senate
03/20/23 - CA SB 553 (03/20/23 - Amended Senate)
CA SB 553 - 02/15/23 - Introduced
02/15/23 - CA SB 553 (02/15/23 - Introduced)