May Day Honors ALL California Workers

May Day, or International Workers Day, is recognized as a time to honor the dignity of work and the long-running struggle for fair wages, safe conditions, and the freedom to act together for better terms of employment.  In California, that observance resonates not only as history, but as living law: our great state of California is built on a commitment to worker protection, broad coverage, and enforceable collective rights.

California courts have repeatedly emphasized that the purpose of the Labor Code and wage orders is the protection of employees, and that these laws are construed liberally to favor worker protection.  This reflects a core May Day theme: worker rights are not technicalities; they are remedial protections meant to be effective in real workplaces.

Worker Rights are a Defining Principal in California

May Day also honors the idea that workers improve conditions most effectively when they can act together.

1. Collective action and freedom of association. California law describes worker rights to engage in collective action, to organize and assist labor organizations, and to bargain collectively, and directs that these provisions be liberally construed to ensure workers can vindicate these rights free from retaliation or intimidation.  Cal Lab Code § 923.1

2. Collective bargaining agreements are enforceable contracts in California.  California provides that collective bargaining agreements are enforceable at law or in equity, and that a breach may be met with the same remedies available for other contracts, including injunctive relief.

   
   

A defining feature of California worker protection is that it is intended to apply broadly-without carving out vulnerable workers from basic rights.

1. Worker protections apply regardless of immigration status. California law declares that, for purposes of enforcing state labor and employment laws, immigration status is irrelevant to liability, and it restricts immigration-status inquiries in enforcement proceedings and discovery absent a clear-and-convincing showing of necessity to comply with federal immigration law.  Cal Lab Code § 1171.5

2. California statutes reflect broad coverage of who counts as an employee. For example, California's statutory definition of "employee" (in the workers' compensation context) includes persons whether lawfully or unlawfully employed and expressly includes noncitizens and minors.  Cal Lab Code § 3351