The burden of fault is now being placed on employers to combat human trafficking in the state of California. SB970 requires that all California lodging and transit employees be provided at least 20 minutes of interactive or classroom training that teaches them how to identify the signs and report suspicious activity indicative of human trafficking.
The fines for not providing this can be enough to put a small business out, and start at $500 per employee in addition to liability for any misconduct that occurs as a result of employees inability to identify signs of human trafficking.
The definition of human trafficking is much different than what we once knew. This $150 billion dollar industry includes not only sexual exploitation, but forced labor acts and over 50% of victims are male. Human trafficking includes exploiting the labor of agricultural workers, massage parlor workers, nail salon technicians, and restaurant waitresses and waiters. Human trafficking can also be described as modern day slavery, and is defined as “illegal exploitation of a person”. It is suspected that many of us come into contact with human trafficking victims multiple times a day without knowing anything unlawful is occurring. Protect your business and educate your staff on how to identify and report human trafficking.
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