406 | 2023 Cal-Peculiarities ©2023 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 20.3 Forced Patronage Some companies require their employees to patronize company products or services. Thus, for example, employees of the Brand X department store might be expected to wear Brand X clothes. Not so in California, which forbids employers to require employees to purchase “anything of value” (e.g., safety training, auto insurance, banking services) from the employer or any particular vendor.14 California also forbids employers to require an employee to buy or sell stock in order to secure a job. The relevant provision states: “Investments and the sale of stock or an interest in a business in connection with the securing of a position are illegal as against the public policy of the State and shall not be advertised or held out in any way as a part of the consideration for any employment.”15 For rules on company-required uniforms, see § 7.12.2. 20.4 Restrictions on Employer Rights to Employee Inventions An employer may provide in its employment contracts for confidential disclosure of all of an employee’s inventions made individually or jointly with others during the term of employment.16 But California employers must not require an employee to assign rights to an invention that the employee has developed on his or her own time without using the employer’s equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information, unless the invention results from work for the employer or relates to the employer’s business when the invention was developed.17 Further, any agreement requiring a California employee to assign invention rights must notify the employee of these limitations.18 20.5 Child Labor California’s numerous and complicated child labor laws are generally beyond the scope of this discussion. For a summary, see www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/ChildLaborPamphlet2000.html. Note, though, that even here, California goes to peculiar lengths. It forbids employment on a motion picture set or location of an infant under the age of one month, unless a board-certified pediatric physician and surgeon certifies that the infant is at least 15 days old, was carried to full term, was of normal birth weight, and has the lungs, eyes, heart, and immune system that one needs to handle the stress and potential risks of filmmaking. Violation of this provision is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $2,500 to $5,000, 60-day jail term, or both. The medical certification must be provided in advance to the Labor Commissioner, who will consent to the minor’s employment through issuance of a permit.19 (Some have cited this provision in trying to explain why viewers were shown a doll appearing to be a baby, instead of a real baby, during a scene in the 2014 movie American Sniper.) Aggrieved individuals can seek treble damages claims for child-labor violations, and their claims are tolled during the time that they remain a minor. Moreover, certain violations involving a minor 12 years of age or younger are now subject to civil penalties of $25,000 to $50,000 per violation.20 Just when you thought California could not get more peculiar in this area: agricultural packing plants in Lake County get a unique exemption from child labor laws until January 1, 2022. This exemption allows minors ages 16 and 17 to work during the peak agricultural season, so long as school is not in session.21 California also addresses infant labor in the entertainment Industry. As of 2020, “entertainment industry” employers must receive—before employing an infant under one month of age—a licensed, board-certified pediatrician’s certification that the infant is at least 15 days old, was carried to full term, was of normal birth weight, is physically capable of handling the stress of working in the entertainment industry, and has sufficiently developed lungs, eyes, heart, and immune system to withstand the potential risks.22
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