Last week, ASA hosted an exclusive webinar with Adam Romero, deputy director of executive programs for the California Civil Rights Department, on SB 1162, California’s new pay data reporting law. Romero discussed the agency’s recently published answers to frequently asked questions and explained the requirements of the new law as they pertain to both staffing firms and their clients. Although the webinar was not recorded, CRD will post slides of the presentation on its website in the coming weeks.
The law, enacted last year, requires staffing agencies to report to the state employee data by race, ethnicity, and sex, and also requires staffing agency clients to submit separate reports covering the employees provided by staffing agencies. Because staffing agencies have not historically maintained race and ethnicity data for their employees, the FAQs—at the urging of ASA—allow “unknown” to be reported for those employees. During the webinar, Romero clarified that this exception, which only applies for the 2022 reporting year, applies to both staffing agency and client pay data reports. Clients can report “unknowns” on their “labor contractor employee reports,” and staffing agencies can report “unknowns” on a special staffing agency “payroll employee report” that can be obtained only upon written request to the CRD. Romero stressed that the “unknown” category can be selected only where that information is in fact unknown and not reasonably obtainable before the filing deadline. He also said that “unknown” can be used if a person’s sex is unknown.
The special staffing agency payroll employee report template, which includes the “unknown” race/ethnicity and gender option, can be obtained only by emailing CRD at paydata.reporting@dfeh.ca.gov. This template will not be available at calcivilrights.ca.gov.
CRD will publish additional guidance relevant to staffing firms in the coming weeks. In the interim, staffing firms with specific questions should email CRD at paydata.reporting@dfeh.ca.gov.
