California Apparel News

The Department of Labor (DOL) is proposing a new initiative that encourages small-business owners to have a more proactive role in the workplace while protecting workers under federal labor laws and regulations.

The initiative, announced last week by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao in a speech before the National Federation of Independent Business, is aimed at providing small-business owners with “better knowledge and tools to help them achieve compliance with hundreds and thousands of pages of federal regulations and laws,” according to a DOL press statement.

Chao announced that the agency is creating a new position, director of compliance assistance, to oversee its employer assistance program to ensure interaction with small-business owners. A spokesman for the DOL said the agency would hire a career civil service worker as opposed to a political appointee.

“We are going to help make sense of the regulatory jungle that small-business owners have to comply with, because that is the best way to make worker protections work,” said Chao. “There is a new culture of responsibility being built at the DOL—a responsibility for us to help business owners understand our exhaustive list of regulations.”

One major component of the initiative is a Web-based interactive site that informs business owners about federal employment laws and gives advice via the Internet. The agency is also planning to open an information center for small-business owners. Chao said there is a need for this type of initiative for small businesses because larger companies tend to have support systems, including in-house attorneys, human resources specialists and accountants, to track records and help businesses stay in compliance with labor laws.

“The idea that government ought to provide small businesses with the knowledge and tools to help people comply with its regulations should be a top priority of the DOL, and it is an idea whose time has come,” said Chao.

According to a DOL survey conducted in 2000, about 67 percent of California’s apparel contractors were not in compliance with labor laws. In recent years, labor activists have urged the state to tighten its labor codes. Meanwhile, the implementation of Assembly Bill 633, legislation that extends liability for labor law violations along the apparel production supply chain, has met with opposition from several of the state’s apparel manufacturers and contractors who believe the regulations are unreasonable.

Joe Rodriguez, executive director of the Southern California Garment Contractors’ Association, said the initiative is a good idea only if it is done right, and he pointed out a potential stumbling block in that California laws and federal laws sometimes differ, starting with the minimum-wage requirement (federal minimum wage is currently $5.15, while the state’s minimum wage is $6.75.)

“We encourage laws that promote education and training for employers, but it may be difficult since the state has a different set of standards, which in some cases has been applied over federal regulations. Maybe if the DOL implements a special California section it could be useful,” said Rodriguez.