California 2011 2011-2012 Regular Session

California Assembly Bill AB1744 Amended / Bill

Filed 03/29/2012

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1744AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2012 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal FEBRUARY 17, 2012 An act to amend Section  970   226  of the Labor Code, relating to employment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1744, as amended, Bonnie Lowenthal.  Solicitation of employees: misrepresentation.   Employee compensation: itemized statements.   Existing law requires every employer, semimonthly or at the time of each payment of wages, to furnish each employee with an accurate itemized statement in writing showing specified information. Existing law provides that a knowing and intentional violation of this provision is a misdemeanor.   This bill would additionally require that the itemized statement include, if the employer is a temporary services employer, the name and address of the legal entities that secured the services of the employer and total hours worked for each legal entity.   Because a willful violation of the bill's provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.   Existing law prohibits a person from influencing, persuading, or engaging a worker to change from one place to another by knowingly false misrepresentations.   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no   yes  . State-mandated local program:  no   yes  . THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:  SECTION 1.   Section 226 of the   Labor Code   is amended to read:  226. (a) Every employer shall, semimonthly or at the time of each payment of wages, furnish each of his or her employees, either as a detachable part of the check, draft, or voucher paying the employee's wages, or separately when wages are paid by personal check or cash, an accurate itemized statement in writing showing (1) gross wages earned, (2) total hours worked by the employee, except for any employee whose compensation is solely based on a salary and who is exempt from payment of overtime under subdivision (a) of Section 515 or any applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, (3) the number of piece-rate units earned and any applicable piece rate if the employee is paid on a piece-rate basis, (4) all deductions, provided that all deductions made on written orders of the employee may be aggregated and shown as one item, (5) net wages earned, (6) the inclusive dates of the period for which the employee is paid, (7) the name of the employee and the last four digits of his or her social security number or an employee identification number other than a social security number, (8) the name and address of the legal entity that is the employer and, if the employer is a farm labor contractor, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1682, the name and address of the legal entity that secured the services of the employer,  and  (9) all applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate by the employee  , and (10), if the employer is a temporary services employer as defined in Section 201.3, the name and address of the legal entities that secured the services of the employer and total hours worked   for each legal entity  . The deductions made from payment of wages shall be recorded in ink or other indelible form, properly dated, showing the month, day, and year, and a copy of the statement and the record of the deductions shall be kept on file by the employer for at least three years at the place of employment or at a central location within the State of California. (b) An employer that is required by this code or any regulation adopted pursuant to this code to keep the information required by subdivision (a) shall afford current and former employees the right to inspect or copy records pertaining to their employment, upon reasonable request to the employer. The employer may take reasonable steps to ensure the identity of a current or former employee. If the employer provides copies of the records, the actual cost of reproduction may be charged to the current or former employee. (c) An employer who receives a written or oral request to inspect or copy records pursuant to subdivision (b) pertaining to a current or former employee shall comply with the request as soon as practicable, but no later than 21 calendar days from the date of the request. A violation of this subdivision is an infraction. Impossibility of performance, not caused by or a result of a violation of law, shall be an affirmative defense for an employer in any action alleging a violation of this subdivision. An employer may designate the person to whom a request under this subdivision will be made. (d) This section does not apply to any employer of any person employed by the owner or occupant of a residential dwelling whose duties are incidental to the ownership, maintenance, or use of the dwelling, including the care and supervision of children, or whose duties are personal and not in the course of the trade, business, profession, or occupation of the owner or occupant. (e) An employee suffering injury as a result of a knowing and intentional failure by an employer to comply with subdivision (a) is entitled to recover the greater of all actual damages or fifty dollars ($50) for the initial pay period in which a violation occurs and one hundred dollars ($100) per employee for each violation in a subsequent pay period, not exceeding an aggregate penalty of four thousand dollars ($4,000), and is entitled to an award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees. (f) A failure by an employer to permit a current or former employee to inspect or copy records within the time set forth in subdivision (c) entitles the current or former employee or the Labor Commissioner to recover a seven-hundred-fifty-dollar ($750) penalty from the employer. (g) The listing by an employer of the name and address of the legal entity that secured the services of the employer in the itemized statement required by subdivision (a) shall not create any liability on the part of that legal entity. (h) An employee may also bring an action for injunctive relief to ensure compliance with this section, and is entitled to an award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees. (i) This section does not apply to the state, to any city, county, city and county, district, or to any other governmental entity, except that if the state or a city, county, city and county, district, or other governmental entity furnishes its employees with a check, draft, or voucher paying the employee's wages, the state or a city, county, city and county, district, or other governmental entity shall use no more than the last four digits of the employee's social security number or shall use an employee identification number other than the social security number on the itemized statement provided with the check, draft, or voucher.  SEC. 2.   No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.   SECTION 1.   Section 970 of the Labor Code is amended to read: 970. A person, or agent or officer of that person, directly or indirectly, shall not influence, persuade, or engage any person to change from one place to another in this state or from any place outside to any place within the state, or from any place within the state to any place outside, for the purpose of working in any branch of labor, through knowingly false representations, whether spoken, written, or advertised in printed form, concerning any of the following: (a) The kind, character, or existence of the work. (b) The length of time the work will last, or the compensation for the work. (c) The sanitary or housing conditions relating to or surrounding the work. (d) The existence or nonexistence of any strike, lockout, or other labor dispute affecting it and pending between the proposed employer and the persons then or last engaged in the performance of the labor for which the employee is sought.