The legislation will likely have a large impact
Starting in summer 2015, companies that use temp agencies — like the ones Taylor Farms uses in Tracy — would be just as accountable to worker complaints.
California had more than 300,000 jobs credited to the about 3,000 so-called temporary help service agencies in the first three months of this year, according to Patrick Joyce of the state Employment Development Department.
There were 13 temp agencies in Monterey County during that time equaling an average of 710 jobs a month.
The legislation will likely have a large impact locally, said Cesar Lara, executive director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council.
"This gives workers rights," he said. "It's a question of liability."
Lara said they have examples of a contractor not doing something right, the worker filing a complaint against that contractor and then the contractor going out of business.
"Then, the company they are really doing the work for just washes its hands of it," Lara said.
Bill author Assemblyman Roger Hernandez, D-West Covina, used Taylor Farms as his example for why the bill was needed.