California's Labor Enforcement Task Force Finds Most Businesses Out of Compliance
Cal/OSHA's inspections of 2,495 businesses during the past three years identified 7,131 violations, 15 percent of which were classified as serious violations. Violations in the garment industry, as well as safety, overtime, misclassification, and other types of violations, have been identified through the task force's 2012, 2013, and 2014 inspections, according to the report.
A new report summarizes the results of 2012, 2013, and 2014 investigations done by the California Department of Industrial Relations' Labor Enforcement Task Force, and it shows safety, workers' compensation, overtime, and other types of violations were identified at most of the inspected businesses. Cal/OSHA personnel inspected a total of 2,495 businesses as part of the task force during those years and found 81 percent of them were out of compliance, with a total of 7,131 violations identified, 15 percent of which were classified as serious violations. Initial assessment amounts on these Cal/OSHA cases totaled $4,369,847.
Several other agencies participate in the task force, including DIR's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), the Contractors State Licensing Board, the Bureau of Automotive Repair, Alcoholic Beverage Control, and the state's attorney general and district attorneys throughout California, according to the 2015 report.
It says "over 40 percent of businesses inspected are found to be out of compliance with all inspecting agencies. Furthermore, instances of noncompliance were consistently high across results reported for all three years, ranging from 63 to 94 percent and demonstrating the efficacy of joint inspections."
DLSE is checking for workers' comp, minimum wage, overtime, garment, and child labor violations, contractor's license violations, misclassification and unlicensed farm labor contractor violations, and violations involving rest periods and meal periods, among other things. Its personnel inspected 2,858 businesses during the period, with 53 percent of them found to be out of compliance, and identified a total of 2,516 violations and assessed $22,363,976 for these violations.
The report includes an summary of activity by DIR's Roofing Compliance Working Group, which was launched in 2013 and is a collaboration of the task force partners, local district attorneys, roofing contractors, and unions. It aims to combat unsafe and unfair practices in the roofing industry. To date, the working group has conducted 22 inspections and cited more than 60 violations with nearly $100,000 in initial penalties assessed, according to the report.
The report is available at www.dir.ca.gov.