The California Civil Rights Division has released new and updated answers to frequently asked questions regarding SB 1162, California’s new pay data reporting law. The law 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. Among other things, the newly released answers clarify three important issues for staffing firms.

Under the law, all staffing firm clients that regularly employed 100 or more total labor contractors during the prior reporting year must file a Labor Contractor Employee Report. The FAQs now clarify that a staffing firm that knows or reasonably should know that its client employed 100 or more total labor contractors has a duty to supply relevant pay data information to its client; the staffing firm should not wait for the client to specifically request the information. However, when a staffing firm reasonably does not know whether its client employs 100 or more total labor contractors, the firm need only supply data to its client upon request. The CRD encourages staffing firms to reach out to their clients to inquire which, if any, has a filing obligation.

Second, the FAQs clarify that staffing agencies serving as prime contractors and subcontractors for a given client each have an independent obligation to send pay data information to the end client. Third, regarding selecting the appropriate work establishment for their own Payroll Employee Reports, staffing firms may use their own physical establishment or their clients’ work sites, but when providing data for their clients’ Labor Contractor Employee Reports, staffing firms should select their clients’ establishments.