For Immediate
Release Contact: Garin
Casaleggio
May 1, 2017 916-653-9900
SACRAMENTO – California Labor and
Workforce Development Agency Secretary David M. Lanier today issued the
following statement reaffirming the agency’s commitment to worker protections
regardless of immigration status:
“Today on International Workers’
Day, May Day, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency and its
partner departments reiterate that we never ask for – nor do we collect – the
immigration status of any worker who files a health and safety or wage theft
claim with our offices. It has been longstanding state policy that our
labor laws apply to all workers, regardless of immigration status, and that the
immigration status of a worker is unnecessary information to enforcing our
laws.
“Just because the federal
administration has changed, our laws and policies have not.
“We will not tolerate the use of
immigration status as a tool of retaliation against workers who are pursuing
their rights under California law.
“The Labor and Workforce
Development Agency will continue to work in partnership with community leaders,
worker advocates and employers to make sure immigrant workers know they are
covered by our state’s workplace protections.”
Employees with work-related questions or complaints may
contact the Department of Industrial Relations’ Call Center in English or
Spanish at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734), and more information on wage theft and
how to report violations is available through the Labor Commissioner’s Wage Theft is a Crime website. The
California Workers’ Information line at 866-924-9757 provides recorded
information in English and Spanish on a variety of work-related topics that
include wage and hour laws, and workplace health and safety.