California’s Displaced Janitor Opportunity Act

In the California Labor Code, Division 2, Part 3, Chapter 4.5, there is the “Displaced Janitor Opportunity Act.” Chapter 4.5 was added in 2001 by Chapter 795. Section 1060 defines the following terms: “awarding authority,” “contractor,” “employee,” “person,” “service contract,” “subcontractor,” and “successor service contract.”

Section 1061 provides that, if an awarding authority notifies a contractor that the service contract between the awarding authority and the contractor has been terminated or will be terminated, the awarding authority is required to indicate in that notification whether a successor service contract has been or will be awarded in its place and, if so, them it must identify the name and address of the successor contractor.

The terminated contractor is required, within three working days after receiving that notification, to provide to the successor contractor identified by the awarding authority, the name, date of hire, and job classification of each employee employed at the site or sites covered by the terminated service contract at the time of the contract termination.

A successor contractor or successor subcontractor is required to retain, for a 60-day transition employment period, employees who have been employed by the terminated contractor or its subcontractors, if any, for the preceding four months or longer at the site or sites covered by the successor service contract unless the successor contractor or successor subcontractor has reasonable and substantiated cause not to hire a particular employee based on that employee’s performance or conduct while working under the terminated contract.

The successor contractor or successor subcontractor is then required to make a written offer of employment to each employee in the employee’s primary language or another language in which the employee is literate. 

The successor contractor or successor subcontractor, upon commencing service under the successor service contract, is required to provide a list of its employees and a list of employees of its subcontractors providing services at the site or sites covered under that contract to the awarding authority. These lists must indicate which of these employees were employed at the site or sites by the terminated contractor or terminated subcontractor

During the 60-day transition employment period, the successor contractor or successor subcontractor is required to maintain a preferential hiring list of eligible covered employees not retained by the successor contractor or successor subcontractor from which the successor contractor or successor subcontractor must hire additional employees until such time as all of the terminated contractor’s or terminated subcontractor’s employees have been offered employment with the successor contractor or successor subcontractor.

At the end of the 60-day transition employment period, a successor contractor or successor subcontractor is then required to provide a written performance evaluation to each employee retained pursuant to this chapter.

Section 1062 specifies that an employee who was not offered employment or who has been discharged in violation of this chapter by a successor contractor or successor subcontractor, or an agent of the employee may bring an action against a successor contractor or successor subcontractor in any superior court of the State of California having jurisdiction over the successor contractor or successor subcontractor.

The court may award backpay, including the value of benefits, for each day during which the violation has occurred and continues to occur. The court may order a preliminary or permanent injunction to stop the continued violation of this chapter.

Section 1063 provides that nothing in this chapter changes or increases the relationship or duties of a property owner or an awarding authority, or their agents, with respect to contractors, subcontractors, or their employees. In addition, nothing in this chapter limits the right of a property owner or an awarding authority to terminate a service contract or to replace a contractor with another contractor or with the property owner’s or awarding authority’s own employees.

Section 1064 states that nothing in this chapter prohibits a local government agency from enacting ordinances relating to displaced janitors that impose greater standards than, or establish additional enforcement provisions to, those prescribed by this chapter. Section 1065 provides a severability clause.