As fast food workers across California push for higher wages and more protections, Santa Clara County is looking to create a know-your-rights training program for such employees — much to the objection of small business owners and franchisees.
County officials are expected to return to the Board of Supervisors in August with more details on what the program will entail, but Supervisors Betty Duong and Susan Ellenberg, who authored the recommendation, asked that it cover “core worker rights topics” including wages, benefits, sick time, parental and family leaves, workplace safety, whistleblower rights, workers compensation and harassment and discrimination laws.
A 2024 report from the Step Forward Foundation and the California Fast Food Workers Union found that of the 300 workers surveyed across 213 fast food locations in the state, 88% didn’t know about their basic workplace rights like paid sick leave and meal breaks. Ninety-three percent were also unaware of benefits like the Family Medical Leave Act, disability insurance and workers compensation. There are upwards of 25,000 fast food workers in Santa Clara County across 1,300 locations, according to union estimates.
Because many fast food workers don’t know their rights, Duong, a former employment law attorney, said that “they are unable to speak up and enforce their rights for basic employee benefits that are taken for granted by many of us.”
Ellenberg said the report makes it clear that “despite state-mandated employer-led trainings, too many workers still do not fully understand their employment rights.”
“I believe that many employers, especially of locally owned family businesses or franchises, may be well intentioned, but in order to ensure that no one falls through the cracks additional training could benefit everyone,” she said.
Ellenberg asked county officials to create a program that won’t come at a cost to the county given current budgetary concerns.
Dressed in purple California Fast Food Workers Union shirts, more than a dozen workers, along with union leaders and community advocates, urged the supervisors on Tuesday afternoon to move forward with Duong and Ellenberg’s recommendation.
“We need to ensure that workers like me know our rights whether it’s about taking breaks, fair compensation or knowing who to turn to when something goes wrong,” Margarita, a worker at In-N-Out Burger, told the board. “I’ve seen the consequences of unsafe practices. One of my coworkers got hurt but didn’t report it because he feared losing his job. These aren’t isolated incidents.”
Santa Clara County’s decision to create a know-your-rights training program follows several labor wins for California fast food workers. Last April, the state enacted a new $20 minimum wage for fast food workers — and another 70 cent increase could soon be coming. California also established a new nine-member Fast Food Council made up of union representatives, business owners and workers that is supposed to set workplace standards for the industry.
But many of these initiatives have been met with push back from fast food corporations and other franchisees. In 2022, McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger called some of the proposals “lopsided, hypocritical and ill-considered legislation.” Some of those same sentiments emerged at Tuesday’s meeting from local franchise operators who wore yellow stickers with the words “proud local restaurant owner.”
The Protect Santa Clara County Restaurants coalition argue that the training would duplicate other requirements outlined in California labor law and would unfairly target small business owners — many of whom they say are people of color, immigrants and women. The coalition also pointed to San Jose’s decision last year to decline creating a training mandate, citing budgetary constraints and the recent creation of the Fast Food Council.
But Duong noted the program won’t be a mandate and instead will be voluntary with incentives. Businesses that opt-in will be certified as “Employers of Choice.” The supervisor said it will mimic the county’s healthy nail salon recognition program, which was enacted in 2014 and encouraged salons to use safer products and improve ventilation. As of June 2024, 111 nail salons have participated in the program, according to the county.
“There is no onus, there is no requirement, there is no legislative change today,” Duong said. “This is what I consider a gift to both our workers and our employers: a top-tier, gold standard, comprehensive training that reflects the ever changing landscape of labor laws that is offered in a comprehensive, least impactful way.”
But some local business owners remain skeptical. Brian Hom, who owns two Vitality Bowls locations in San Jose, said in an interview that he’s unsure of how many franchisees will decide to opt-in if it’s going to cost them. New regulations, like the $20 minimum wage, have already hurt his business, he said, and forced him to increase costs, cut hours for employees and stop hiring altogether. His family now works more hours at the restaurants to make ends meet.
“Rent is going up, labor is going up and less customers are coming in because now it’s become a luxury to eat out,” he told The Mercury News. “I’m not a McDonalds corporation. We’re small businesses.”
Hom, like other franchisees that spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, said he already posts his employees’ workplace rights on the wall and answers any questions they might have. If he doesn’t know, he refers them to an outside employment organization he works with.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, who is a former small business owner, said she wants to ensure that “any action we take in the future does not present a significant undue burden to small business owners especially in these economic times.”
Many union leaders though, don’t believe the training will come at a large cost to small business owners.
“Participating employers would end up reimbursing the county for what would be about $100 per worker based on past experiences,” Jeffrey Buchanan, Working Partnerships USA’s director of policy and public affairs, told the board. “Certainly we’ve heard from a number of fast food employers who keep saying that this would be costly. But ask yourselves, what would be so costly about workers knowing their rights?”