California’s labor laws are some of the country’s toughest, offering hourly workers in the Golden State high minimum wages, strict overtime protections, paid sick leave, and more. Yet a new report finds the laws are routinely broken and that there is a large under-reporting gap among workers who experience violations.
The report, by the , based at Harvard Kennedy School and the University of California-San Francisco, found more than nine out of 10 of the hourly workers they surveyed experienced at least one labor violation. About two in five workers experienced a loss of earned income, and the same share of workers were blocked from accessing paid sick leave.
“California has some of the most progressive labor standards in the county,” said Daniel Schneider, the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and co-director of the project, which documents the economic security, schedules, and health and well-being of hourly workers across the country. “These standards are designed to raise the floor on job quality for some of the hardest working Californians. But violations of these standards by employers are routine.”
Between January and March of this year, researchers surveyed 980 California workers employed at 98 of the largest service sector companies, asking them about their work conditions, including pay, work hours, and access to leave. They also surveyed an additional sample of 74 similar but recently unemployed workers.
