California Garment Worker Protection Act
Governmental Agency: Department of Industrial Relations
Jurisdiction: California, USA
Ref no: SB 62
Status: Adopted, January 2022
The Garment Worker Protection Act — signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom — is an anti-wage theft and brand accountability bill that makes the state the first in the country to require hourly wages for garment workers. It also bans piecework, a practice that allowed manufacturers to pay workers per garment, resulting in a salary of less than $6 per hour, according to Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Workers Center (GWC), a 20-year-old organization that helps low-wage garment workers in California.
Furthermore, the law establishes a new accountability precedent for brands and manufacturers that will penalize wage theft and other illegal pay practices. Led by the GWC, state senator Maria Elena Durazo, and organizations like Remake — which works to shift the fashion industry away from practices that are harmful to workers and the environment — the bill was backed by 158 retailers and designers, including Reformation, Eileen Fisher, and Mara Hoffman.
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The Garment Worker Protection Act impacts any contractors, manufacturers, and brand guarantors in the Californian garment manufacturing business, especially as they would be held jointly liable if the correct form of wage is not paid to garment workers.
To be engaged in garment manufacturing means to perform garment-manufacturing operations for sale or resale or to contract with a contractor to have those operations performed.
A brand guarantor is any person contracting for the performance of garment manufacturing operations regardless of the layers between the brand guarantor and the contractor. It includes persons that license a brand or name for garment manufacturing.
