CA SB 747

Title: Wages: behavioral health and medical-surgical employees.
Author: Scott D. Wiener

Summary
SB 747, as amended, Wiener. Wages: behavioral health and medical-surgical employees. Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth the functions of the department, which include, among others, fostering, promoting, and developing the welfare of the wage earners of California and improving their working conditions. Existing law establishes within the department the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, headed by the Labor Commissioner, for the purposes of enforcing labor laws. Existing law prohibits an employer from paying any of its employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex for substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions, unless the employer demonstrates that one or more specific factors, reasonably applied, account for the entire wage differential. Existing law also similarly prohibits an employer from paying any of its employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of another race or ethnicity for substantially similar work. Under existing law, a violation of the laws relating to payment of wages, hours, and working conditions is a misdemeanor. This bill would require a covered employer to report to the department the compensation it provides to behavioral health employees and to medical-surgical employees. The bill would authorize the department, if it does not receive a report from a covered employer pursuant to these provisions, to seek an order requiring the employer to comply with the requirement and would entitle the department to recover the costs associated with seeking the order. The bill would authorize a court, upon request by the department, to impose a civil penalty, as prescribed.The bill would require any data regarding the compensation of behavioral health employees and medical-surgical employees reported by a covered employer to be exclusively available to certain departments, including the department, and to be confidential and not made publicly available. The bill would, notwithstanding that provision, require the department to consult with certain departments, including the Department of Health Care Access and Information, regarding the data, and thereafter to, among other things, incorporate the data into a report that identifies any compensation disparities between behavioral health employees and similarly situated medical-surgical employees. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2027, to submit the above-described report to the Legislature, as specified. The bill would specify that a violation of its provisions does not constitute a misdemeanor, and would define various terms for these purposes.Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Status
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

Bill Documents
CA SB 747 - 05/01/25 - Amended Senate
05/01/25 - CA SB 747 (05/01/25 - Amended Senate)