Spanish is not only the language spoken at home for about one-quarter of Californians but the language that, by law, they should be communicated to for some labor matters when employees are Spanish-speaking.

CalChamber employment law counsel Jessica Hawthorne is quoted as saying that there are not uniform criteria about how many Spanish-speaking employees a business must have when it is required to communicate the law in Spanish. For example, one law establishes that it is required if 10 percent of employees are Spanish-speaking. Other laws impose the requirement if there is a "significant portion" of Spanish-speaking employees. But CalChamber translates all 16 required postings into Spanish regardless of any legal requirements.

Among the required postings that tell employees what their legal rights are that must be communicated in Spanish are rules for minimum wage, the Family and Medical Leave Act and California's occupational safety and health rules. The criteria are more restrictive if there are workers who exclusively speak Spanish. For example, even in the cases in which there is only one worker in this circumstance, it is obligatory to inform him of his rights in his language.

CalBizCentral, a division of CalChamber, collects and updates all these required postings and either gets the Spanish version from the applicable state agency or translates the information.

The all-in-one poster, which includes all 16 required postings, can be purchased along with the five required pamphlets or separately. The cost varies between $15 and $85 for most information and sometimes more than $100. There are discounts for businesses that are members of CalChamber.

Antonio Hernández, owner of Teresitas Restaurant in Los Angeles, updates the information for his Spanish-speaking employees every year. He says the laws protect Spanish-speaking workers of possible abuses.

The Census Department reports that California has the most Hispanic businesses of any state, more than 427,000, or 27.2 percent of the total, and that 188,000 of them are located in Los Angeles County.

The tools offered by CalBizCentral are utilized by larger businesses as well.

"Around 70 percent of our 550 employees speak Spanish," a human resources manager for Marriott at Los Angeles International Airport said.