San Jose Spotlight: California workers are gaining new rights next year

SB  553, effective July 1, 2024, will help to combat the epidemic of workplace violence by requiring California employers to take steps to prevent and respond to it.

The law requires employers to develop workplace violence prevention plans as part of their injury and illness prevention programs with specific components and procedures. It also requires employers to record violent workplace incidents or threats in a violent incident log, provide effective training to all employees and maintain records related to the workplace violence prevention plan.

The need for this bill was evident from the escalating violence that workers in service industries face. In a statement, the United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council said that most of its members have been victims of workplace violence or the threat of it.

“Members have been robbed at gunpoint; they’ve been attacked physically, some to the point of needing to be hospitalized; they’ve been spat upon by people infected with COVID-19; they are routinely threatened with violence; and at some stores, members have even been murdered while performing their jobs,” the union said.

John Frahm, acting president of the UFCW Local 5, said the bill will have an “extraordinary impact” on workers’ lives.

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