On September 22, 2021, Governor Newsom signed new restrictive legislation regulating the use of employee quotas and work speed data for warehouse employers. This new law will significantly impact warehousing operations, many of which depend on production quotas based on complex industrial data.
Through this new law, employers with 100 or more employees in a single warehouse distribution center, or with 1,000 or more employees in one or more warehouse distribution centers throughout the state must, by statutory decree and regulations, provide to each employee a written description of each quota to which the employee is subject, including the quantified number of tasks to be performed or materials to be produced or handled within a defined period of time.
This notification responsibility becomes effective at the time of contracting or within a period of 30 days from January 1, 2022, the date on which the legislation enters into force. In addition, as stipulated by this legislation, employers must also inform employees of any potential negative employment action that may result from failure to meet this quota.
Devised as a mechanism to protect the rights of warehouse employees, the law states that actions taken by workers to comply with health and safety laws should be considered a productive time for the purposes of any applicable quota. This means that the quotas assigned to an employee cannot prevent compliance with meal or rest periods, use of sanitary facilities (including travel time to and from sanitary facilities), or compromise other health and safety laws at work.
Under the provisions of this law, employees may request information on their own quotas and personal data on work speed. In addition, the law allows employees to refute unlawful retaliation as long as it is reported within 90 days of requesting information about their quota or personal work speed data, or the assigned quota is disputed.