Bill would target employers who threaten immigrant workers

(The Center Square) – A bill to protect immigrant workers from being threatened by their employers passed during a California legislative committee hearing on Tuesday morning.

Assembly Bill 2495 would make it illegal for employers to threaten an immigrant employee to prevent or discourage that employee from reporting a workplace violation. Current law already protects immigrant workers who report such a violation, but only after a violation has occurred and the employee has reported it. No such protection exists for immigrant employees before they report that something is wrong at work, according to a legislative analysis of the bill.

“Anti-immigrant national rhetoric has emboldened bad faith employers to increasingly deter immigrant workers from complaining about violati...