Cambrian Homecare, a Long Beach-based health services company, is being sued by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) after allegedly failing to disclose employee pay data in accordance with state law, according to officials.

Officials said that for the last three years, Cambrian Homecare has failed to file legally mandated pay and transparency reports despite repeated warnings by the CRD. A representative for Cambrian Homecare declined to comment.

“Cambrian Homecare must comply with the law,”  CRD Director Kevin Kish said in a statement Wednesday. “Transparency is key.”

In 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 973 into law, establishing the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) and new pay transparency laws, which require private companies like Cambrian Homecare, with 100 or more employees or contractors, to report pay, demographic and other workforce data each year as part of the state’s efforts to “combat discrimination in the workplace and persistent gender racial wage gaps,” according to the CRD.

“Every year, women and communities of color lose out on billions of dollars in wages because of pay inequities,” Kish said. “In order to address the problem, we need to understand it and acknowledge it.”

Data collected by the CRD in 2020 under the new pay transparency laws revealed that women in California made up a large group of people earning roughly $30,000 each year, while less than 10% of Black and Latino people living in California made anything near $129,000.

White people in California, however, made up roughly 30% of all people earning roughly $129,000 a year, according to the CRD.

In addition to getting a court order requiring the company to comply with California’s reporting requirements, the CRD will also be seeking civil penalties against Cambrian Homecare, officials said.

“Companies in our state have to do their part in tackling the wage gap,” Kish said. “Together, we can make progress and create a fairer California for all.”

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