Our whole community is strongest when everyone has what they need to be healthy and safe.
But too many working families — especially immigrant families and those providing essential services to our communities — have faced devastating losses without recourse or protections to ensure they can care for their families and come back strong.
This week, South Bay representative Assemblymember Ash Kalra, supported by a group of fellow state leaders and advocates, is introducing two critical workers’ rights proposals that will create much-needed protections for California’s working families:
- AB 3216 would empower working Californians to protect ourselves, care and provide for our families, and stay home if we are sick. This bill provides statewide emergency paid sick leave, expands access to family leave, and creates a right of recall for laid-off workers in industries heavily impacted by COVID-19. This afternoon, it passed the Assembly Labor Committee! Next it will go to the Appropriations Committee, then on to a floor vote by the full Assembly in June.
- Kalra and 13 fellow leaders have also proposed the creation of a partial income replacement program for undocumented workers impacted by COVID-19 job losses and excluded from state and federal unemployment benefits. This proposal comes with the support of a coalition of California worker and immigrant rights organizations with the Safety Net for All coalition.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more ways to support both these critical worker protection measures. By empowering working Californians to provide for our families and stay home if we are sick, both proposals address the urgent need to ensure all working families are supported to stay safe and move toward economic recovery.
We look forward to working with you in the coming weeks to ensure our state puts the communities hardest hit by this crisis at the front and center of our COVID-19 recovery plans.
