Newsom administration officials did not respond to a request for comment.
That’s raised the ire of business groups. In a statement Monday, the California Chamber of Commerce, state Restaurant Association and other groups denounced the limitation, saying it “will only create unnecessary confusion, create layered burdens on employers, and subject businesses to more frivolous litigation.
It was as susceptible as any Sacramento body to political influence. In the 1990s, then-Republican Gov. Pete Wilson appointed labor representatives to the commission that labor groups opposed, Fisk said. The state Labor Commissioner still enforces the commission’s old wage orders. The Legislature has become the primary body for writing new labor rules. Fisk said that’s not the best set-up for workers or the economy.