A farm labor contractor successor to any predecessor farm labor contractor that owed wages or penalties to a former employee of the predecessor, whether the predecessor was a licensee under this chapter or not, is liable for those wages and penalties, if the successor farm labor contractor meets one or more of the following criteria:
(a) Uses substantially the same facilities or workforce to offer substantially the same services as the predecessor farm labor contractor. A farm labor contractor that has operated with a valid license for at least the preceding three years shall have an affirmative defense to liability under this subdivision for using substantially the same workforce, if all of the following apply:
(1) The individuals in the workforce were not referred or supplied for employment by the predecessor farm labor contractor to the licensed farm labor contractor asserting this defense.
(2) The licensed farm labor contractor asserting the defense has not had any interest in, or connection with, the operation, ownership, management, or control of the business of the predecessor farm labor contractor within the preceding three years.
(3) The licensed farm labor contractor asserting the defense has not been determined to have violated any provision of the Labor Code within the preceding three years.
(b) Shares in the ownership, management, control of the workforce, or interrelations of business operations with the predecessor farm labor contractor.
(c) Employs in a managerial capacity any person who directly or indirectly controlled the wages, hours, or working conditions of the employees owed wages or penalties by the predecessor farm labor contractor.
(d) Is an immediate family member of any owner, partner, officer, licensee, or director of the predecessor farm labor contractor or of any person who had a financial interest in the predecessor farm labor contractor. As used in this section, “immediate family member” means a spouse, parent, sibling, child, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, or grandparent.
(Added by Stats. 2013, Ch. 715, Sec. 1. (SB 168) Effective January 1, 2014.)