AB 1888 Labor Trafficking Unit Established to Protect Vulnerable Workers

AB 1888 establishes a Labor Trafficking Unit within California’s Department of Justice.  The goal of this new law is to investigate and prosecute those who force or coerce vulnerable people into jobs with little or no pay, often in poor and unsafe working conditions.  Labor trafficking targets workers by making them vulnerable to threats regarding their immigration status, threats to their families’ safety, and threats involving their wages.

The new Labor Trafficking Unit (“unit”), in coordination with the Department of Industrial Relations and the Civil Rights Department, will receive labor trafficking reports and complaints from law enforcement agencies and other governmental entities, and refer the reports or complaints to appropriate agencies for investigation, prosecution, or other remedies.  The unit will follow a victim-centered approach and ensure that victims are informed of the services and options available to them.  The unit will make efforts to ensure that local, state, and tribal entities will similarly use a victim-centered approach when receiving victim reports or complaints of labor trafficking.

The new law will also create collaboration between the unit, the Department of Industrial Relations and the Civil Rights Department to develop policies, procedures, and protocols to track, record, and report potential labor trafficking to the unit.  The unit will develop a tracking and reporting system to collect labor trafficking reports and complaints to be further investigated by the Department of Justice, or referred for civil action, criminal prosecution, or other remedy, as specified.

The bill’s operation is contingent upon adequate appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for the bill’s purposes.

For questions regarding this new law, please contact your labor law counsel.