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County outlines outreach, convening and enforcement steps to improve working conditions at residential care facilities

Finance and Government Operations Committee · May 2, 2026
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Summary

County staff reported outreach to over 540 residential care facilities, multilingual educational mailings, advisory council convenings with state regulators, and civil enforcement actions to address alleged wage theft; staff said calls to the county advice line have increased and that a full update will appear by December 2026.

Maribel Martinez of the Division of Equity and Social Justice introduced an update on county actions to improve working conditions at residential care facilities (RCFs). Staff from the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement summarized a three‑pronged strategy: outreach and education, stakeholder learning and convening, and enforcement of unpaid judgments and labor‑code violations.

Jesse Yu said the county mailed an informational postcard in February to more than 540 RCFs in five languages (English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Chinese) to promote fair labor practices and worker rights and linked to state resources. He told the committee the county convened an RCF advisory council and hosted information sessions for workers and employers that included presentations from the California Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division.

On enforcement, staff said the county’s office of county counsel filed a civil enforcement action in October 2025 against a home‑care business alleging widespread wage theft; the county is seeking unpaid wages, civil penalties and attorney’s fees. Committee members asked whether outreach had yielded measurable upticks in complaints or advice‑line calls; staff said they are tracking advice‑line volume and have seen an increase in calls but that industry identification in those calls is sometimes incomplete.

Supervisors and staff discussed the advisory council’s next steps; staff said council members are still learning the landscape and have not yet produced formal recommendations. The committee voted to receive the report and asked staff to coordinate with intergovernmental relations and return with further findings at the next scheduled update.